Stoked Plus One: Another Grom
by Xain D
Summary: Basically exactly what the title implies. This is a reworking of the TV series Stoked, but throwing in one more character (a grom) named Nate. This will follow the actual episodes closely, but there will be some original parts, and some things that change. Please enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Surfer's Paradise

I stood at the end of the pier, watching the blue waves break in the distance. A tan dude with blue hair was shredding, but besides him the spot was pretty empty. Shame too, there were primo waves out there. I looked down to my left, and saw my own board in its bag. I couldn't wait to break it out finally; the first Canadian wave was going to be epic. Just like this summer working at Surfer's Paradise. While I mused on this, I heard hurried footsteps from behind me. I turned in time to see a redhead girl rush up, squealing into her phone.

"Thank you _soooo_ much for letting me come, mom," she said. "By the end of the summer, I'm going to be a surfer!" She hung up the phone, and gazed out at the ocean. I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and returned to watching the boy out on his board. He did a cut-back over a wave, and I whistled.

"Sweet cut-back, huh?" I asked the girl. She turned to me, and had an expression as if she hadn't realized I was there.

"Huh?" she asked. "Uh… oh yeah. Sweet cut-thingy…" I furrowed my brow in confusion, but just then I heard a loud and obnoxious honking behind me. I turned, and saw what can only be described in as the most goofy bus in the history of automobiles. It was huge, purple, and in the shape of a whale. The door swung open, and a tan older man stepped out.

"Hey dudes," he called. "All aboard for Surfer's Paradise hotel." My eyes got wide.

"That's _my_ bus," I mumbled to myself, as the girl did the same. We exchanged an awkward glance. "Shall we?" I asked. She smiled and nodded, and we walked over to the giant monstrosity of a bus. We realized that we weren't alone; two other teens were there. A boy with hair that can only be described as "large" and a girl with short blonde hair. The boy looked to us.

"You dudes going to Surfer's Paradise too?" he asked. We both nodded. He smiled. "Sweet," he went for a fist bump, which I exchanged with him. "Name's Reef." I nodded.

"'Sup bro," I said. "I'm Nate." Reef grinned at me, and I gestured to the girl. "What's her name?" She walked up to me.

"I can speak for myself, you know," she said, but she didn't really sound mad. "I'm Fin. Nice to meet you." She shook my hand, and went to shake the redhead's. "And... your name?" The other girl shook her head quickly, like she tried to snap herself out of a daze.

"Uh, Emma," she said, shaking Fin's hand. "I'm Emma." The man who drove the giant whale shaped bus stepped in.

"I'm the Kahuna, dudes," he said, putting his fist up for pounding. Reef and I exchanged confused looks, but shrugged and pounded his fist anyway. "Alright dudes, dudettes, hop on the Whale Bus. We're going to Surfer's Paradise." We all nodded, and boarded on the bus. Reef sat in a far back seat, and I took the one next to him. Fin was in front of him, and Emma in front of her. I changed my mind and moved next to Fin, so I could be in the middle of the three of them. The bus peeled out, and started moving to the hotel. "So what's up summer staff?" Kahuna asked. "I drive the shuttle for the hotel, so any time you need to get to town you just look for me, just look for the Kahuna. So… you groms here for the surf?"

"Definitely," replied Reef, sounding ecstatic.

"Is it as epic as they say it is?" asked Fin.

"Best in the country," Kahuna confirmed. "Double overhead most days. Hope you're ready to get _worked_." I pumped my fist in the air.

"You _know _it!" Reef couldn't hold in his excitement any longer.

"Oh man," he said, excitement building in his voice. "I am so stoked!" He shoved his head out the window. "SOOOOO STOKED! Woohoo! Hello Sunset Beach!" There was a sudden pause. "Hey, uh, I think it might be raining…" He pulled his head back in to reveal three large spots on his face where a seagull had, well, relieved himself. No one inside the bus could hold in their laughter.

"Dude," I exclaimed. "You just got seagull'd!" The girls laughed even harder, and even the Kahuna joined in, as Reef tried to wipe the white gunk from his cheek and hair.

The bus ride passed quickly, and we soon pulled up to a large… um… I don't know how to describe it. It _was_ a hotel, but it was, well, how do I put this lightly? Lame as all get-out. Another giant whale adorned to top of the building, and several whale fountains littered the drive up. The Kahuna honked the loud horn, causing a disturbance in one of said fountains. Out fell a teenager with dark skin, and a huge blonde afro. If I thought Reef's hair was big before, I hadn't seen anything yet. The four of us got off the bus and walked to the front door. The afro boy walked near us, and released a loud yawn while stretching.

"Dude wake up, you gotta punch in in ten minutes," said the Kahuna. "You don't want to get canned on your first day, do ya?" The boy yawned

"Man, what time is it?" he asked. Reef checked his phone.

"Almost twelve," he responded.

"Man, I slept _in_…" he said. He suddenly seemed to notice Emma and Fin, because he zipped over to them, putting an arm around each one. "Girls that I don't know, what's up?" he asked quickly. He had some sort of accent, though I couldn't place it. He wore no shirt, just a necklace and a pair of board shorts. Fin chuckled.

"Rough night?" she asked.

"No doubt," he said, stretching again. Emma, Fin, Reef and I began to walk inside. "Hey, wait up!" he called after us, following us in. As we entered, I was struck with just how much potential this job had… to be the lamest thing on earth. The place was practically sprayed with tourist attracter. There was a giant pirate ship on one side, a whale stocked gift shop on the other, a whale fountain, whale posters… man this place had a thing for that dumb purple whale.

"Oh… my… gosh…" said Fin, feeling a loss for words at how kooks-ville this place was. The five of us walked towards the checkout counter. Emma noticed something in the gift shop.

"Wow," she said. "I've _never_ seen a board with diamonds in it before." I rolled my eyes, as did Fin.

"Okay, that is _so_ fancy-feast," she grumbled.

"Man," I said, deciding to state the obvious. "This place isn't that clean." A maid carrying a large sack of garbage over her shoulder walked by.

"We haven't gotten to the outside yet," she grumbled. We looked out the windows, and all five pairs of eyes popped wide open. The place was trashed. It was like a hurricane went through or something.

"Oh that's from the party last night," said the tan boy. "It was soooo sick…" he seemed to be reminiscing. "Check you guys in a minute, huh?" He smiled, and walked off somewhere.

"I'm gonna go check the surf report," said Fin, walking in the opposite direction. Emma, Reef and I stood in the lobby, confused about what to do next.

"Should we be… checking in with somebody?" I gestured over my shoulder at what I assumed was the front desk. There was another teen there, maybe a bit older than us, who was dealing with a family of tourists. They shouted something at him, and he made a call on his walkie-talkie. Then he told the family to wait a moment, and we took out chance and walked up.

"Welcome to Surfer's Paradise," he said, arms outstretched. "We are surfing." I raised an eyebrow.

"We are surfing?" I asked. He sighed, and slumped his shoulders.

"Yeah," he said. "We are surfing. I have to say it."

"We're the new summer staff," explained Emma. "I'm Emma." Just then Fin walked back up to us.

"Hey," she said. "I'm Fin. That's Nate, and that's Reef." Reef and I both raised our hands up when our names were called. The boy behind the counter brightened up.

"Oh, hey what's up," he said, smiling. "I'm Johnny, I work the front desk. Concierge. So, what d'you think?" We all avoided the obvious answer. Well, except for Fin.

"It _stinks_," she said blatantly. "It's all fake!" Johnny cringed.

"Ooh… You must've seen last year's brochure," he explained. "Yeah, last fall, corporate decided to make all the hotels 'theme hotels.' And viola, every true surfer's worst nightmare. Dude! What'd I tell about taking sink-showers in the lobby bathroom?" We turned to see the boy from before returning, sopping wet. He shook off his hair.

"Uh… don't?" he guessed.

"Right," said Johnny impatiently. "So what're you doing here anyway?" The boy pointed proudly to himself.

"I'm the new bellhop man!" he exclaimed. "Sick party last night." He jumped backwards and landed on the couch nearby.

"Who threw this shindig, man?" Reef asked Johnny.

"The owner's daughter," he said, a slight hint of disgust in his voice. "Lo."

"If her dad finds out, it's tickets bro," the boy said. Suddenly the manager, a short man with short trimmed hair and a purple shirt, walked over.

"Hi, just checking in I see," he said. "I'm Andrew Baumer, day manager. If there's anything you need, just let me know." Johnny spoke up.

"Uh sir," he said. "They're not guests."  
"We're the new summer staff," Fin corrected. The tan boy added a "what's up?" from the couch. The manager, Baumer, automatically became less friendly.

"Then what are you doing in the lobby?" he asked. "What are they doing in the lobby?" he directed it at Johnny. "And you, get off the couch!" The boy jumped off the couch he was laying on.

"It's cool, bro," he said, putting his hands up to quell the rage coming from this man. "It's cool."

"All of you, come with me," he shouted. "You too Johnny. I need all the hands I can get."

On the walk to the pool, which Baumer was making us clean, we got to talking. The boy from the fountain introduced himself as Broseph. No, seriously. Anyway, he told us all about Sunset Beach. The breaks were perfect, and if you can find a good enough spot, there'll hardly be any kooks holding up the lineup. Soon we arrived at the drained pool, and set to scrubbing it down. I didn't even want to know what it actually was that I was meant to clean. We set to it silently, but after a while somebody had to complain.

"Dude this _bites_," groaned Broseph, scrubbing down the side of the pool. Johnny made a sound like _pshh_.

"That's resort life for you," he said.

"What d'you mean?" asked Fin.

"Well," he said. "Usually we get the afternoon to surf. Then some kid has a diaper malfunction in the pool, and BAM! We're on scrubbing duty." We groaned, and got back to scrubbing. After another few minutes Emma decided to break the silence.

"So, where're you guys working anyway?" she asked, taking a break from her mopping. "I'm in the dining room." Johnny pointed a finger.

"DR, nice," he said. "Decent tip potential." Reef jammed a thumb in his chest proudly.

"You are looking," he said, as if he was going to announce something big. "At the head of water sports, and surf instruction!" Fin's eyes grew wide.

"What?" she stammered. "That's my job.  
"Uh, is your name Reef?" Reef asked smugly.

"No."

"Well then it's not your job. I got this in the mail last week." He held out a letter, which Johnny scanned over. He verified its authenticity, and Fin got steamed.

"They do this all the time," Johnny informed her. "Move staff around. You'll get used to it."

"That is SO unfair," she said. "So… what am I supposed to do?" Johnny pulled out a walkie-talkie, and checked Fin's posting. The response came back quickly as housekeeping, and Fin was not too happy about that. "A _maid_?" she said. "Uh, no. Oh no! Okay, I don't even clean my own room." I wanted to diffuse the Fin bomb that was going to go off, so I stepped in.

"I'm working the rock wall," I said. Reef turned to me with excitement.

"This place has a rock wall?" he shouted. Johnny walked in, a finger put up to interject. I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, had," he said tentatively. "This place _had_ a rock wall. They took it down last year." I stared at him, mouth agape. He held up his hands. "I know the drill," he said. With that he called Baumer again to check for _my_ job. When the response came back, Johnny shrugged.

"Well?" I asked.

"There's no permanent position for you yet," he explained. "We're gonna put you in the DR for now." Emma smiled.

"Hey, we'll be working together," she said. "Nasty!" I raised an eyebrow.

"I think you mean gnarly," I corrected. She turned slightly red, and nodded. "Alright, well, it's not the worst job around. I could be a maid." I smirked at Fin, who threw a scrubbing brush at my head. Then we set out to complete the rest of the tasks Baumer had set for us to do.


	2. Official First Day

Chapter Two

Official First Day

The rest of the day dragged on forever. After the pool we had to fix deck chairs on the beach, re-patch the grass on the golf course, wash the golf carts, and pick up all the popped balloons off the hotel grounds. After all this was done, and Johnny made his final check on Baumer's list, he led us to the staff house. It was _very_ underwhelming. It looked like it had been nice in its heyday, but now it was a decrepit three story building, with windows cracked and creaking floor boards. We walked on to the porch, where two older boys were playing a video game. Broseph walked over and bumped one of their fists.

"No-Pants, what's happenin'?" Then he jumped backwards, landing on one of the couches set up. A plume of dust flew into the air when he landed, but it didn't seem to bother him. Johnny gestured to the two boys.

"Guys, this is No-Pants Lance," he said, before sniffing the air. He smelled something foul (we all did) and waved a hand in front of his face. "And Ripper. They're returning staff."

"Which means we're, like, gods around here," said Ripper. He had a thick Australian accent. I realized he was the blue haired boy I'd seen shredding earlier when I first arrived. "And should be treated as such." Lance waved a hand.

"Don't listen to him, guys," he assured us. "He's just full of hot air." The two seniors exchanged a look, and Lance giggled.

"The fire before Labor Day rate is 42%," Ripper said. "So one of you's not going the distance." Fin grinned, and pointed to Reef.

"My money's on him," she said. Emma giggled, and I just shrugged. "You just have that 'going to get fired' look about you." She explained. Johnny quickly interrupted the petty insults.

"Okay…" he said. "Girl's dorms upstairs. Fin, you're in 202, Emma 203. Guys," he said, turning to us. "Mi casa, es su casa!" Reef and Broseph looked at him confused. I sighed.

"We're rooming with Johnny," I explained slowly. They nodded signifying that they understood. Reef, Broseph and I went to go up the stairs.

"Careful on the third step," Johnny called after us. "It's a little…" but just then Reef crashed through the step Johnny was talking about. "Busted…" Everyone else on the porch laughed heartily, but Reef didn't seem too pleased.

We pulled open the door to reveal a rather small room, especially considering that four people would be sharing it. There were two bunk beds, one that already had things on it, signifying that it was Johnny's. We all looked at each other, and at the same time screamed out "I call top bunk!" Our eyes simultaneously went wide, and we began a race for the bed. Reef got there first, but before he could get up, Broseph threw him backwards, towards me. I side stepped him, and jumped on top of Broseph, using his fluffy hair as a springboard, and landed in the bed.

"HA!" I shouted triumphantly. "It's mine!" Broseph and Reef sighed, and picked their own bottom bunks. Reef would be with Johnny, and Broseph with me. Once that was settled, the three of us unpacked our bags. We didn't bring much; just one duffel each. Soon all our stuff was organized, and we got to the last part of our unpacking; the boards. Reef did the honors first, pulling out a red hybrid, maybe eight feet long. It had the shape of a cow's skull near the front end. Broseph brought his out next, a yellow long board, probably nine and a half feet long. There were a few intricate stripes on it. Then I pulled out mine. It was a nine and three quarter foot long board, a dark shade of blue, with three orange lines going down the center.

"Sick board," we all said to each other at the same time. There was an awkward moment of silence, and Reef said, "Should we go back down?" Broseph and I nodded, and we returned to the front porch, where Johnny, Ripper and Lance were waiting. Soon after we'd arrived the girls walked down too.

"They don't clean this place much, do they?" asked Emma, just as Fin sat on the couch, another puff of dust coming off of it.

"What was your first clue?" asked Ripper sarcastically. Emma sat on the arm of the couch (the other spots being taken by Broseph and me) and sniffed the air. We all looked to Ripper, but he held up his hands. "Wasn't me." He assured us.

"These couches smell like surf wax," Emma informed us. Reef seemed impressed with her commitment to surfing.

"Wow," he said. "You really love surfing, huh?" We all did, of course, but Emma seemed like surfing was what kept her going. If surfing wasn't around, where was the good in life?

"_Yes!_" she declared, but then changed her answer. "I mean, I think so. I've never really tried it before." Everyone's eyes popped wide open. Calls of "what?" and "are you serious?" could be heard.

"This is a disgrace," Ripper said. "We have got to get this girl in the water, pronto!" Reef immediately stepped up, but Fin shut him down. She reminded Emma how kooky Reef was, and offered to teach her herself. Just then, however, the large PA system near the Staff House blared, and Baumer's voice came out.

"All new staff are to report to training _immediately!_" he commanded. Emma looked downtrodden.

"Whoa, we have to train today?" she asked half heartedly. "But I was going to learn how to surf." Reef crossed his arms over his chest.

"This stinks!"

"Get used to it mate," Ripper said. "Management owns my butt, your butt, everyone's butt." Reef shook his head.

"_Nobody_ owns my butt!" he exclaimed.

"If I don't see your faces in twenty seconds, I'll fire the whole lot of you," Baumer's voice came through the PA system again. "This is not a vacation, and I don't tolerate slackers! Move it people, MOVE IT!" We began a full out sprint for the front door of the hotel, as Baumer began a countdown. "Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven…"

XxXxX

I looked myself up and down in the mirror in my changing room. My outfit was, for all purposes, a pirate costume. I had a red bandana, beige shirt, and heavy pirate boots. Not the best outfit, but it could be worse. I pulled back the curtain and walked out, finding Reef and Broseph also in their outfits. They were clad in purple shirts (Reef's being sleeveless) and purple shorts with gold flowers.

"Man, this is really itchy," Broseph said, as the three of us walked over to where the girls were changing. We rounded the corner, and caught sight of Emma, in what looked like a wench costume from the sixteen hundreds. Clearly the Dining Room employees were meant to be pirate-themed. Broseph and I had to hold our hands over our mouths to keep from laughing, and Reef pulled out his phone, trying to snap a pic.

"Arrrg, little wench," he said, in a pirate voice. "Fetch me some cola, or I'll make you walk the plank!" his camera flashed, and Emma chuckled.

"At least _I_ don't look like preppy little mama's boys," she said, looking from Reef to me. I looked at Reef's outfit, then to my own, and groaned.

"She's right, you totally do!" I said. Broseph, Emma and even Baumer chuckled at this. Another curtain pulled back, and Fin walked out, wearing a pink and yellow maid's outfit. Reef laughed and pulled out his phone again.

"Do it, and you lose it," Fin growled. "This is _so_ humiliating!" she threw her hands in the air, exasperated. Baumer paced back and forth.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said impatiently. "Life is unfair, daddy doesn't love me, blah, blah, blah." He handed out our name tags. "You are required to wear these at all times while on duty. Now pay attention! You may have heard a rumor that I have a tradition of firing one employee on the first day. That rumor is completely untrue," Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief, but then he continued. "Sometimes it's _more_ than one. Your performance in training today will be rated by your supervisors, so I suggest you give them your _full_ attention. Any questions?" Reef tentatively raised a hand, but Baumer ignored it. "Good." He walked away, signifying the day had started.

XxXxX

The dining room was practically empty, aside from Emma and I, plus a few other staff members. A guy wearing a getup similar to mine walked out the silver double doors of the kitchen, carrying trays of silver ware.

"Shall we?" I asked Emma, holding the door open for her. She smiled.

"Let's," she agreed. We strolled in, confident this job couldn't nearly be _that_ bad. We moved to the back of the kitchen, where an impatient looking girl, maybe a year older than us, was standing. She had the full pirate suit; hat, overcoat, even an eye patch.

"Listen up, Groms," she said, using it to sound derogatory. "I'm Kelly, your senior supervisor, and your boss. Do what I say, and everything will be fine between us. Don't…" she made a slicing motion across her throat with her index finger. I chuckled, but Emma inched a bit closer to me, being intimidated by the older girl.

"So what d'you want us to do, captain?" I asked, joking about her pirate outfit. She didn't seem to find it so funny.

"First, wash up," she said, pointing to a sink. "Company policy. Then, when Gavin's done setting up the plates, you'll start taking orders."

"Orders?" asked Emma. "No one's here."

"Give it a minute," said Kelly. "Now get to washing."

Emma and I walked over to the sinks, turned them on, and began washing our hands in silence. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. Checking to make sure Kelly wasn't around, I quickly dried off my hands, and pulled out my phone. It was a text from my little brother, Jackson.

_How're the waves, bro?_ It asked. I texted back quickly.

_Haven't gotten a chance to ride any yet,_ I said. _Btw, rock wall got taken down. Working the dining room._ I sent it, and Emma peered at my phone.

"Who you texting?" she asked, not nosily, but just trying to pass the time.

"My little bro, Jackson," I replied. "He's stuck going through summer school back in the California."

"You're from the U.S.?" asked Emma. "Cool. I'm from Alberta." Having nowhere to go from there, I glanced back to my phone, which had just buzzed again.

_Any babes?_ Asked Jackson. Without thinking, I glanced up at Emma, who was drying off her wet hands.

_Maybe,_ I texted back. _Too soon to tell._ Emma caught me looking her direction, but smiled all the same. Just then, the door swung open, and Kelly stuck her pirate head in.

"Come on Groms," she called. "These tables aren't gonna wait themselves!" Emma and I sighed, then walked out of the large double doors.

"Okay, boy, you'll take tables three, four and five. Girl, you take nine and ten." Emma and I exchanged a glance of confusion. Kelly sighed. "You will wait _these_ tables," Kelly told me, gesturing to three tables, two of which already had families. "And you will wait _these_ tables." She said to Emma, showing the red head her tables. Emma and I nodded, and Kelly walked off.

"Good luck," I said to Emma, before walking off to the first table. It was a man in a suit, sitting quietly. I smiled. This would be easy. "Good morning, sir. I'm Nate, and I'll—"

"Yeah yeah, here's what I want," said the man. "Three eggs, over easy, brought promptly to me so that it doesn't cool down. Cover it with a sprinkling of pepper. A _sprinkling_! I would also like a side of toast. Rye. One side buttered, the other with jam. Grape, not strawberry. Do _not_ put the jam and the butter on one side. To drink, I would like a coffee, two packets of sugar, stirred counter clockwise." I raised an eyebrow.

"Sir," I said. "You do know that there are complementary sugar packets on your table don't you?" He looked taken aback.

"Are you questioning my intelligence?" he asked, flabbergasted. "Yes, I know that there are sugar packets. I want you to stir the sugar for me, so it has time to add to the flavor before it arrives here. Now, repeat my order back to me." I blinked, somewhat blindsided.

"Um…" I said, scratching my head. I had stupidly forgot to write anything down, as I had assumed it would be a simple order. "Okay, you wanted three eggs, over easy, with some pepper—"

"A _sprinkling!_" he interrupted me.

"Right, a sprinkling," I said. "And rye toast, with jam and butter. Grape." I said quickly, sensing he was going to interrupt again. I smiled and began to walk away, before reading the rest of his order.

"Young man!" he called after me.

"I've got it, dude, don't worry!" I called after him. I didn't turn to see his expression.

As I walked towards the door, I saw it swing shut, and there was a loud crash. I ran over, and when I looked inside, I saw Emma, lying on the floor, surrounded by broken dishes.

"Oh no!" she cried. "Man, I bet they're gonna take this out of my paycheck." I kneeled down, and extended a hand to help her up.

"You okay?" I asked her. "No cuts or bruises?" She looked herself over, then shook her head. Suddenly, Kelly walked in.

"What happened in…" she began, then saw the dishes everywhere. "Groms!" she shouted. "Gavin, get in here!" The pirate boy from before, Gavin, walked in. "Nate, give Gavin the order that man gave you."

"Why?" asked Gavin, through a mouth surrounded by a thin beard.

"Because," Kelly said, sounding slightly like a wicked step sister. "The Groms will be cleaning up the mess Emma here made." I looked to Emma, who smiled apologetically. Kelly moved to the back of a kitchen, and got a broom and a dustpan. She shoved the broom into my hands, and gave Emma the dustpan, and the two of us set about cleaning.

"Sorry about this," Emma said, as I pushed broken dish into the dustpan. "I didn't mean to get you involved in this." I shrugged.

"It's cool, Chiquita," I said nonchalantly. "My customer was a total kook anyway. Real stuck up. Didn't want to serve him anyway." And we continued to sweep and clean Emma's first (of many) mistakes.


	3. Surf Lessons

_Author's Note: I suddenly realized I've already posted two chapters without any kind of address to the readers. My bad. Anyway, hello there, to the few of you that are reading this. As I'm sure you know by now, there's a new grom in the mix, named Nate. I hope you'll stick around to see how his story unfolds. How will his presence change the plot of certain episodes? What original experiences will he and the groms go through? Find out this and more, by reading the rest of this story. Please enjoy!_

Chapter Three

Surf Lessons

Emma and I made our way back to the staff house, after a long day of serving. We had both made plenty of mistakes, but Emma was _much_ worse than I was. I didn't say that, of course, but she knew as well.

We arrived at the porch, and found Reef, Broseph and Fin already sitting on the couch. Emma took a seat next to Fin, and I sat on the arm next to her.

"That was _seriously_ the hardest day of my life!" Reef complained.

"Tell me about it," said Fin.

"None of you could have done as bad as I did," Emma said, sounding glum. "I messed up _so_ many times!"

"You weren't that bad…" I tried, but she still pouted slightly.

"Isn't this when we're supposed to go surfing?" Reef asked.

"Too tired," said Broseph.

"Yeah, I'm beat dude," I said.

"Come on!" Reef said excitedly. "We made it all this way today. We have to get one quick session in."

"Reef's right, you guys," Emma said. "Who knows when we'll get an hour off again?" Fin, Broseph and I exchanged looks.

"Okay, I'm in," said Fin.

"I'm down," I said.

"Meet you back in five," Reef said, and he rushed off to change out of the dorky work clothes. I looked around. We were _all_ still in work clothes.

"Um, should we…" I gestured to our outfits. The others nodded, and we got up to change. Fin began taking off her skirt right on the deck.

"Whoa!" Emma exclaimed.

"Relax," said Fin. She yanked off her maid outfit, to reveal a small, two piece wetsuit underneath. "I come prepared. I'll wait for you guys here." I wasn't so sure about that, as we were all itching to get to the beach as soon as possible, but we nodded and walked off.

Broseph and I entered our room, to find Reef, naked, digging around his bag. Broseph and I quickly covered our eyes.

"Dude," Broseph said. "Not cool, guy." Reef quickly found his boardshorts, and pulled them over his… unmentionables.

"Catch you guys in a few," Reef said, grabbing his board and heading out the door. We waved him a goodbye, and went about changing into our own boardshorts. His were a cream color, and mine were a deep brown, with two white stripes on either leg. I hopped off my bunk, and found Broseph waiting for me, board in hand.

"Let's hit it, dude!" he exclaimed. I smiled, grabbed my board, and we headed out the door. Walking down the stairs, and towards the beach, we passed by the laundry hut that was for the staff.

"D'you hear that?" I asked, holding up my hand and signaling Broseph to stop. We listened intently, and heard the faint sounds of sobbing. "It's coming from the laundry hut." We walked in, and found Emma sitting on the floor, crying.

We walked in, and were immediately punched in the face by a powerful stink. "Whoa! It's really rank in here!" said Broseph immediately. Emma wept louder. "Hey, hey, it's cool. Maybe you just need a shower?" Broseph offered.

"It's not me!" Emma said, exasperated. "Oh, what am I doing here? I don't belong. I only came out here to surf, but I don't even have money for lessons. …Oh yeah, and my roommate, is a skunk!" Broseph and I exchanged a glance. I nodded slightly to our boards, and then to the crying red head on the ground. Broseph pieced it together, and nodded back. I held out a hand to Emma, helping her up.

"Come on, we're taking you somewhere," I said. "Go change, and meet us at the porch." She sniffed away a tear, then nodded, and ran off. As Broseph and I walked back, we discussed the plan.

"You ever teach someone to surf?" I asked. Broseph shook his head.

"Nah, bro," he said. "But how hard can it be?" I shrugged, hoping he was right. We sat, waiting, and Emma soon returned, wearing a pink two piece bikini. I looked to Broseph, and raised my eyebrows. He chuckled, and the three of us began the walk towards the beach.

XxXxX

By the time we arrived at a nice, secluded spot on the beach, the sun was dipping pretty low into the sky. It was nice, because it meant fewer tourists and kooks hogging the waves. Unfortunately, said waves were pretty tiny, mostly whitewash. But it seemed enough for Emma, who was teeming with excitement. When we arrived at a perfect spot, she started to rush into the water. I caught her by the shoulder.

"Not so fast," I said. "Before you learn in water, you've got to learn on land." She sighed, and pointed to the sun.

"We don't have a lot of time," she said.

"I bet you're a fast learner," I responded. "Now come on, lay that board on the sand." Broseph and I had chipped in to buy Emma a board from the surf shack located on the beach. It was pretty cheap, and since we were employees, and Ripper was running the shack, we'd gotten it practically for free. It was magenta, with pink tropical flowers. Emma sure seemed to like it.

Broseph and I spent a while teaching her the basics (paddle, pop-up, that kind of stuff) and eventually we were ready to get in the water. I set my board on the surface, got on, and paddled out a good twenty or thirty feet (Canadians would say meters, but I don't do metrics.) As we got out, Broseph and I both did a simple pop-up, and Emma attempted the same. She lost her footing, and fell into the water, but her board was sent sailing through the air, almost taking Broseph and my own heads off.

Emma popped her head above the water. "Sorry!" she called, paddling over to her board, and tentatively getting back on.

"It's cool," I said. "Maybe just try standing without moving first." She nodded, and slowly started to stand. She got all the way up, but began wobbling, and soon fell back, sending her board propelling at Broseph. The fuzzy-haired teen leapt over it, but came down on his own board. Hard. Right in the crotch. I winced. "You alright, man?" I called. He gave a thumbs up, while his other hand rested on his kiwis.

Emma, Broseph and I continued on like this for a while. After causing a few more injuries, Emma was finally able to execute a pop-up, both standing still, and after paddling.

"Okay, you got that down," I said.

"Now let's try it on a wave," said Broseph.

"You sure?" Emma asked.

"No worries," said Broseph.

"You'll do fine," I said. "I'm sure." I was wrong. She did not do fine. I can't count the amount of times Broseph and I had to duck out of the way of her board, flying over or heads, or how often we needed to paddle even further out to retrieve it. But eventually, with the sun sinking just below the horizon, she found a small wave, paddled, and stood. She wobbled, and I feared she would lose her balance. The wave rolled on, and with it, Emma. I watched as her face lit up, realizing she had just ridden her first official wave.

"Remember that feeling?" I asked Broseph, as we paddled over to congratulate Emma. "After you ride one in for the first time?" He smiled, and we bumped fists. We arrived at Emma's location. She saw us, and jumped up in excitement, but couldn't land back on her board, and fell into the water. She came up in between Broseph and me, and grabbed onto my board for support.

"I did it, I did it!" she squealed, sounding like a kid. "Did you guys see me?" I pulled her up onto my board, scooting back so she had enough room.

"That was awesome!" Broseph exclaimed. I nodded, and gave Emma a high five.

"Told you that you're a fast learner," I said. "And you doubted our teaching skills." Broseph and I looked at her with smug faces.

Emma was determined to ride a few more waves before we called it a day, and Broseph and I didn't want to disappoint her. We sat back and watched as she caught a few baby waves, until finally paddling over and telling us that she'd had enough for the day. The three of us paddled in, and Broseph shook his hair dry, sprinkling Emma and I with water.

"Watch it, brah," I warned jokingly.

The three of us made it back to the staff house just before the sun had fully set. We set our boards up against the small fence out front, and began to walk to the porch.

"Hey, can we go again tomorrow before work?" Emma asked us excitedly.

"Check you out!" Broseph said with a smile. "You've got surf stoke. Sweet, definitely."

"I'm up for dawn patrol," I agreed. We walked up the steps of the porch, and found Johnny, Lance, Ripper, Fin, the whale mascot Wipeout (whose real name no one knew), Reef and one other staff member who I hadn't met yet.

"You guys made it surfing?" Reef asked, noticing our slightly damp hair and swimwear. "Aw man, jealous!"

"We taught her good" I said, wrapping an arm around Emma's shoulders.

"She's a natural," chipped in Broseph. Johnny suddenly turned his head around.

"Heads up guys," he called, slightly quiet. We looked to see Baumer walking towards the staff house. Broseph, Emma and I quickly stood next to the couch, so we could face him. The porch was deathly silent as he approached.

"Listen up people," he said, once he had arrived. "As you may have guessed, I have the unfortunate duty of sending one of you home today."

"He's really gonna fire someone?" asked Fin incredulously.

"Man, that is _cold_…" said Broseph.

"The employee with the lowest evaluation today was…" as he read off his clipboard, everyone held their breaths. "Martha McCarthy." I furrowed my brow. Who? Then the girl who I didn't know (apparently Martha McCarthy) stood up.

"What!?" she exclaimed. She stormed off the porch in a huff.

"Smell ya later!" No-Pants Lance called after her.

"Yeah, Whatever," she said, crossing her arms. "Enjoy the bugs, and the lack of hot water!" She stormed off, and we all chuckled, until Baumer interrupted us.

"As of now, you are all on six week's probation," he informed us seriously. "If you're late by one minute; that's a strike. If you get anything less than a seven out of ten on your guest evaluations; that's a strike. If you steal a half-eaten brownie; that's a strike. Three strikes, and you're out. Do I make myself clear? Summer season starts tomorrow people. Punch in is at 7:30 AM. Don't be late, and _don't test me._" He walked away, and when he was finally out of earshot, we all sighed with relief.

"Yay, yay, yay, I didn't get fired!" Emma exclaimed, jumping in happiness. Reef and I wiped sweat from our brows simultaneously.

"That was heavy," said Broseph.

The girls walked off to their rooms, intending on going to sleep. The guys and I hung back a bit, with Johnny, Ripper and Lance.

"That dude's a serious bummer, huh?" I asked the seniors, referring to our boss. Ripper and Lance exchanged a look, and chuckled. "What?"

"You're not kidding mate," the blue haired Australian said. "He is a bummer. That's his nickname, in fact." I thought about the cleverness of it, and smiled at the new name I would be using in reference to our boss.

"You know," said Johnny, looking out at the sun, and then to his watch. "It's only a little after nine. And when we were groms a few years ago, our seniors threw us a bonfire on the beach." The two other groms and I exchanged some looks.

"Sweet!" said Broseph.

"Choice," I said. "Will there be snackage?"

"There will be snackage," Ripper assured. Reef quickly ran to the top of the staircase, and put a hand to his mouth to amplify the sound.

"Hey guys!" he shouted up to the girls. "Bonfire on the beach for new staff! Come on!" With that taken care of, he slid down the wooden railing back to where we were standing. "Let's go, dudes!"

XxXxX

"So, let me get this straight?" I asked the brown haired girl, who had introduced herself as Lo when we'd first met her. "You threw that party last night, which we had to clean up, and as punishment your dad's making you work with us for the summer."

"Well, not the whole summer," she said, while twirling a twig in the sand, looking bummed. "But for now, yeah."

"And you're totally cut off?" I clarified. "No special treatment, or room service, or nothing?" She glumly shook her head no. I smiled slightly, reached into a bag of marshmallows that Emma had brought, and tossed her a few. "Welcome to the real world, princess. Don't worry, it's pretty fun here." She smiled slightly, sticking the marshmallows onto a stick to roast over the fire.

The moon was high in the sky, and the fire was warming us all. It was a nice, secluded spot on the beach, with a nice amount of logs arranged in a circle around the fire pit. I sat with Reef to my left, and Emma to my right. Next to her was Broseph, who was next to Ripper. Going in the same direction, next was Lance, then Johnny front-desk-guy, Fin, and Lo, bringing it full circle back to Reef.

"So, how'd our betty do on the waves today?" Ripper asked, looking to Emma. Broseph and I each gave a thumbs up.

"She'll be a pro in no time," I said. "Already wants to go out again before work tomorrow." Suddenly, Fin cleared her throat.

"Okay, I have a toast," she said. "Maybe our jobs kind of stink."

"And our boss is a total dork," Reef chipped in, making the rest of us chuckle.

"Yeah," agreed Fin. "But the waves are awesome, and the beach is beautiful! And this summer is seriously gonna be fun. To Surfer's Paradise!"

We all stood, even Lo, raising our marshmallow sticks into the air, as we loudly and proudly proclaimed;

"Surfer's Paradise!"


	4. Grom Initiation

_Author's Note: Hey everyone. So, I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. I wrote about five or six chapters in bulk, so they'll be uploaded rather quickly. Others might take a bit longer. All I'm saying is don't get too used to the upload every other day. Anyhow, I really appreciate favorites, follows, and mostly REVIEWS! I really would like some constructive criticism, or, I don't know, maybe just some compliments. Just kidding (kind of). Now, without further ado, please enjoy chapter four!_

Chapter Four

Grom Initiation

The alarms buzzed in our dorm, but Broseph and I were already awake. We flung off our sleep clothes into a steadily growing pile, and slipped on their boardshorts. Reef slowly sat up, stretching and yawning, and noticed the two of us getting ready.

"Where you guys headed?" he asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Taking Emma for dawn patrol," I said, gesturing out the door. "Wanna tag along?" Reef almost instantly became wide awake.

"Definitely!" he said, scrambling to find his boardshorts. "Yo, Johnny-front-desk, you wanna—" he looked up to the bunk above him, and found it empty. "Johnny-front-desk?"

"Must've had the same idea as us," I said. "Kind of rude not to wake us, though." Broseph shrugged, and Reef pulled his shorts on. We headed out the door and down the stairs. There we found Johnny, as well as Ripper, Lance, Kelly, and a teenager I knew to be Ty Ridgemount, Lo's older brother, and the son of the hotel's owner. All four of the guys were in their surf gear.

"Take a seat, boys," Kelly said, in her rude way of saying things. "We've got an important announcement to make." We exchanged confused looks, but with a nod from Johnny and Ripper, we sat on the couch. There was a creaking sound above our heads, and the girls slowly filed down. They looked from the seniors to us, and then with a collective shrug, sat as well.

"Listen up, groms," said Ripper. "You are about to embark on a journey that every new employee at Sunset Beach Resort must face. Grom Initiation." Lo got up to leave. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, I don't _really_ work here," she said, heading for the door. "I'm going back to bed."

"Until six o'clock tonight, you are ours," Kelly interrupted her. "If you run, we'll find you. If you resist, you'll just make it worse. You will do anything a senior tells you to do today."

"This is totally bogus," Reef said. "What if we don't do what you say? Are you gonna fire us?"

"No."

"Give us a strike?"

"No."

"Well that's all I needed to hear."

"But," said Ty suddenly. "If you make it through, we'll let you surf… The Office." All of our eyes went wide, even Lo's, as gasps were heard all around.

"Wait, did you just say, The Office?" asked Reef incredulously.

"I thought it was just an urban legend," said Fin.

"No, it's legit," I said. "There was an article in _Stoked_ magazine." Emma nodded.

"Yeah, I read that," she said. "It's supposed to be the perfect break, but almost no one knows where it is." Of course we had all heard of The Office; the most secretive, perfect surf spot this side of the country. It was the stuff of legends.

"Only those who pass the test get to see it," said Ripper. "It won't be easy. And it _will_ be gross. If you want to back out, now's your chance." Emma jumped off the couch, squealing a bit too enthusiastically.

"Eee! I'm so excited! I'm in, I'm in." Fin stood as well.

"I've got four brothers," she reasoned. "Bring it on."

"I'm up for a little punishment," Broseph said.

"What's the worst that could happen?" I asked. The seniors looked to each other, smug smiles growing on their faces.

"Initiation starts now, and runs till the end of the day," Ripper said. "Consider yourselves warned."

"We've still got an hour before our shift starts…" Johnny said to Ripper, Lance and Ty. The seniors exchanged some looks, picked up their boards, and ran off.

"I wonder what they're going to do to us," Emma said with a sigh.

"Yo I heard last year was pretty rough," Broseph said. "Saw some groms running naked down by the pier."

"Well I'm not doing it," Reef said firmly.

"Yeah right," I said. "Like you'd give up a chance to surf The Office." He shook his head.

"No, I wouldn't," he said. "If they can find it, so can we. All I have to do is find out where the secret surf spot is, and we can blow the seniors off! I'm going after them!" And with that, he ran off. After a moment, I turned to the others.

"We've got some time before our shifts, too," I said. "Emma, still up for a quick sesh?" She smiled wide, and nodded vigorously. "Wanna come, Fin?"

"I'm down," she said. "We'll go change. Come on, Alberta."

XxXxX

The sun was bright by the time Broseph, Emma, Fin and I arrived at the beach, but we still had at least 45 minutes before we had to punch in. A quick set was all we were here for.

"Last one in's a total kook!" Fin called, and we all raced towards the water. Fin was first in, followed by a three way tie between the rest of us. I began paddling hard to get further out and away from shore. The waves, while rather large, were coming in pretty infrequently.

"Dude, race you for the first ride!" I called to Broseph.

"You're so on, brah." He responded, and we set to paddling. A few smallish waves were approaching, but we dove under them and kept going; we were looking for substance. Then I saw it; a beauty of a wave, nine feet easy. My first Canadian wave was going to be one to remember, and this was definitely memorable. I looked to Broseph, who seemed to sense how much I wanted it. "Dude, go for it!" he called, accompanied by a thumbs up. I waved a thank you, and paddled after it.

As the wave approached, I got in position to get on. It was nearly at me, and I popped up. The wave swept me along, and I rode it like I would ride any wave back home. Moving along the face of the wave faster than I could comprehend, I moved my board to the lip. One, two, three, cutback! I flipped over, and just when I was about to get back on the wave, it suddenly over took me. I got worked.

I came back up, sputtering for air, and found my board. As I got back on, Fin floated past me, laughing hysterically.

"Nice work, Nate," she said. "You just got barreled!" I spit water out at her, and she paddled away, still laughing. I paddled over to the lineup, where Broseph and Emma were waiting to catch the next swell.

"Dude, you bit it," Broseph said, laughing. "Sick cutback, though. Major props." I bumped his fist.

"That looked rough," Emma said, more to herself than to me. "I'm not so sure about this guys."

"Hey, we taught you how to surf, right?" I asked her. She nodded. "Well that means you'll be riding ten footers in no time."

A swell slowly began rising. Broseph and I each put a hand on the back of Emma's board, and gave her a shove. "Fly baby bird!" Broseph shouted after her. She slowly began paddling after the wave. When she was out of earshot, Broseph leaned in towards me. "You know CPR, bro? She might need it."

XxXxX

After the rest of our session, we made it to the staff locker room, changed, and went to our shifts. Walking to the DR, I whispered to Emma, "What d'you think Kelly's gonna make us do?" She shrugged.

"But I'm _not_ running naked," she said seriously.

By the time we got in, the place was already packed for the breakfast rush. Emma and I quickly went to the kitchen, and got two hot pitchers of coffee to begin serving. As we were walking out of the doors, Kelly leaned over and spilled something (that looked an awful lot like clam chowder) onto Emma's pirate outfit.

"Hey!" I said. "That was cold."

"Okay, after you clean yourself up, you'll be serving table one," Kelly informed Emma. "It's the Ridgemount family table. You know, the owners."

"But it's just my second day," Emma said, exasperatedly. "And I've been clam chowdered!"

"I know," Kelly said, sounding like she was really enjoying this. Which she probably was. "Don't screw up, grom. Oh, and don't think I forgot about you, Nate. You'll get some punishment in a bit." Kelly walked off, and Emma slumped her shoulders. I put a hand on one of them.

"Hey, it'll be fine," I said. "Look, you should go clean that off. And don't sweat the serving thing, I'm sure Ty won't make things hard on you. His dad though…" Emma smiled in thanks, then walked off to clean off her blouse (or whatever you could call the dorky wench costume).

I poured coffee for a table with a young couple seated there, and took their orders. I walked back to the kitchen to alert Gavin about what to cook, and ran into Emma on the way out. "Be brave, surfer girl." I said. Walking in the kitchen, I hollered, "Gav, two eggs, scrambled. Belgian waffles with strawberries. I'm on the OJ."

"Thanks Nate," came the reply. I moved to the fridge, and pulled out a carton of orange juice. As I shut the fridge, I found Kelly standing there.

"Drink it," she said. "The whole carton, right now."

"I hate OJ," I said. "And, uh, isn't that wasteful or something?" She opened the other side of the fridge, and revealed at least seven more bottles of the stuff.

"Drink," she said. I sighed. Not only did I hate orange juice, I was pretty sure drinking this much of it would make me sick. Drinking this much of anything would probably make me sick.

"For The Office," I muttered to myself. With one hand I held my nose (I _really_ hate OJ) and pressed the carton to my lips. Citrus flooded my mouth, and I was guzzling like a madman to stop it from flowing all over my pirate suit. I drank and drank; I didn't really have any idea how much a gallon was until now. But eventually I reached the end, and with a huge gasp, I dropped the carton to the floor.

"Nice job, grom," Kelly said. "You're alright… for now…" She walked away, and I felt my stomach warble.

Walking out of the kitchen to serve my first table their drinks (just looking at it made me shudder) Emma ran up to me.

"That was the most embarrassing moment of my life!" she whispered fiercely.

"What happened?" I asked, followed by an orange-flavored baby barf.

"Kelly made me get on one knee," she said. "And propose to Ty. Right in front of his dad and his brother. And Lo."

"Lo isn't working?" I asked, confused. "And her dad's cool with that?"

"No," Emma said. "Before I 'proposed' I saw him go pretty agro at her. She better punch in. Hey… you don't look so good. Are you sick? You should drink some—"

"Please don't say orange juice," I said, and walked away before she could say any more.

XxXxX

About half an hour went by with no new tricks by Kelly. Emma and I were on our toes, however. We sat in the kitchen, the period between breakfast and lunch in full swing, so there were hardly any customers. Emma had her phone out.

"Lo texted me," she said. "Said her dad is bringing her over now."

"She's working the DR too?" I asked. Emma nodded. "Sweet. Maybe Kelly will direct some harshness towards princess."

"Nate!"

"I'm just kidding," I said. "…Mostly." Just then, Kelly walked in.

"Oh Nate!" she called in a sing-song voice. I groaned and walked over. "Baumer says you're from America, right?"

"Cali," I responded proudly.

"Right," she said. "Well, you're in Canada now. Time to act like it." She handed me a sheet of paper. "That's the Canadian National Anthem. You're going to sing it, to everyone in the restaurant." I peered out the door. Though there were many fewer customers in the restaurant than this morning, there was still a good handful.

"So I'm just singing?" I asked. "That's not too bad." Kelly smiled wickedly.

"Oh no, that's not all," she said. "Gavin, get in here!" Gavin came into view, holding what appeared to be a paint can in his hand.

"Sorry, dude," he said.

"O Canada!" I chanted. "Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command." I was standing stop a table that no one was eating at. Every customer (around fifteen or sixteen) was staring at me. But it wasn't my rendition of the National Anthem that I was butchering which got their attention. It was my chest. I was standing there, shirtless, with a large Canadian flag painted on my body. "With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee." I ended the song, and a few people offered awkward applause. I quickly jumped down from the table, and ran back into the kitchen.

"That was… interesting," said Emma. "Pretty harsh though." Kelly walked forward, a smug smile on her cruel face.

"Happy?" I asked.

"As a clam," she responded, tossing me my pirate shirt. Just then we saw, out of the window of the kitchen door, Lo and her father, Mr. Ridgemount walking in. Kelly quickly rushed to greet them.

"Too bad Lo didn't get to see that," Emma said. I stuck my tongue out at her as I started wiping the still wet paint off my body with some napkins. Just then my phone buzzed.

_Dude, come with me,_ it was a text from Reef. _Just sent Ripper and Lance's boards out for a swim. Got us an hour for Office hunting. You in, y/n?_ I quickly looked around. Kelly was with Lo, and was probably scheming on how to humiliate her at this very moment.

"You think Kelly's going to be busy with Lo a while?" I whispered to Emma.

"Yeah, probably," she guessed. "Kelly's got a serious harshness for Lo. Why?" I held up my phone.

"Reef texted me," I said. "He ditched Ripper and Lance. We're gonna find The Office before Initiation gets any worse."

"I don't know about that…" she said. I gestured to my still red and white chest.

"You want to get painted?" I asked.

"Good luck finding The Office," she said, and practically pushed me out the door to find Reef.


	5. Initiation Ends

_Author's Note: Hey everyone! I've recently been getting a lot more views and reads on this story, so... thank you! I really appreciate it. Let's keep it going, eh? Okay, in this chapter Grom Initiation will end. What will happen? Will they find The Office? ...Probably... Anyway, please enjoy!_

Chapter Five

End of Initiation

"I love the seniors?" I asked Reef, somewhat amused. "Really?" Reef's face was slightly red.

"Let me see your chest," he said. I'd already told him about Kelly's punishment for me. I sighed, and pulled open my shirt. Barely any of the paint had come off, so you could easily make out the image. Reef pulled out his phone, snapped a pic, and put it away, laughing. "Nice!"

"That better not end up on MyFace," I warned.

The two of us were walking through the woods, following the trail the seniors had left Reef earlier that day, when he had searched at first. He told me about sending Ripper and Lance after their boards, and having them paddle against the current.

"Dude," I said. "Groms _do_ rule." We bumped fists. As we continued moving, I thought of something. "Hey, didn't you text Broseph?"

"Yeah, but he didn't get back to me," Reef explained. "Yo, Johnny must be really giving it to him, eh?"

"Wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now," I agreed.

We walked further, following a trail of garbage one would expect from a group of teen guys. We were totally on the right track. I glanced at my phone, and realized our shifts were almost over.

"Dude," I said, tapping Reef's shoulder. "There's less than half an hour before our shift ends. The seniors are gonna be off then too, and they'll come looking for us."

"Doesn't matter," Reef assured me. "Once we find The Office, there's nothing they can do. Unless they have one of those mind wipe things from '_Dudes in Black._'" I chuckled, and was about to put my phone away, when it buzzed silently. It was Jackson calling.

"Dude, I gotta take this," I said, holding up my cell. "Go ahead without me, I'll catch up." He nodded, gave me a thumbs up, and continued on. I hit the answer button on my phone, and pressed it to my ear. "Now's not the best time, J."

"Why, you working?" he asked. The connection wasn't great, because of all the trees, but I could still hear him alright.

"Kind of…" I said, not sure if I should tell him. "Ah, what the heck. No dude, I blew off the rest of my shift. Reef and me—uh, Reef's the red headed guy—are looking for The Office."

"Pssh, yeah right," he said. "How would you find it, if it even exists?"

"The seniors know where it is," I explained. "They're putting us through some kind of initiation, and if we make it through, they'll let us surf there."

"So go through initiation," he said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I had to chug a gallon of OJ," I said. "Then they painted a Canadian Flag on my chest, and I had to sing 'O Canada' in front of the whole DR." He laughed hysterically.

"Oh man, that's harsh," he said. "Any pics?" I sighed.

"Reef has a few," I said. "I'll send 'em to you. Just don't—" But I was interrupted as the sound of Reef screaming filled the forest. Birds flew out of the trees, and I dove into some bushes. "Call you back, bro." I said, then hung up. From the bushes I watched as Ripper and Lance, sopping wet, carried Reef by the shoulders out of the forest. I winced, but realized how lucky I was that Jackson had called me.

When the seniors were far enough away from me, I quickly began jogging back to the DR, as there was still about twenty minutes left in my shift. I pulled out my phone, and sent out a mass text to Emma, Broseph and Fin.

_They got Reef,_ I texted. _Ripper and Lance found him. I got away. Coming back to the DR now. If you see Ripper, Lance, or any senior, watch out._ I hit send, and continued running.

I arrived back at the pirate ship with only ten minutes of my shift left. I quickly found Emma. "Did Kelly notice I was gone?"

"Yeah," she said. "But she was too busy with Lo to care." Just then, Kelly walked into the kitchen, with Lo in tow.

"Okay groms," she said. "We've got… seven minutes before the end of the shift. That means there's time for one more dose of humiliation before we kick it into high gear." Emma, Lo and I gulped collectively. Once all our shifts were over, and the seniors had no other responsibilities, the tasks and trials would become increasingly harsh. Kelly pulled out three jars of mayonnaise.

"Who's first?" she asked. We looked at each other, not sure what to do or say. Kelly sighed, and pulled Emma forward. Uncapping the mayo, we could all instantly smell like it expired.

"Aw man!" I said. "That smells like Ripper's shorts!" Kelly, fiendishly slow, took Emma's neck, and slowly pushed her hair further into the expired mayo. Emma whimpered in protest as her hair was drenched in the stuff. Kelly finally pulled it out, dripping with the expired white gunk. Emma ran off to find a sink.

"I'm not doing that," Lo said. "Nate, take one for the team."

"Why me?" I asked.

"You _both_ have to do it," Kelly said menacingly. And with that she grabbed Lo and me by the wrists, and pulled us over to the mayonnaise. "Get in there." I looked at Lo, who was making a pouty face.

"Ugh, fine," I groaned. With a deep breath, I plunged my head into the mayo. It was sticky, greasy, and rank. I held it in for a moment, then pulled it out. Kelly looked me over, and with a nod that she was satisfied, I ran off after Emma to rinse out my hair.

I found her wringing her hair out. The sink was still on, and I quickly removed my shirt and shoved my whole head under the strong stream. After a few minutes I pulled it out. The white gunk was gone, but the smell and the greasy feeling stuck with it.

"So nast," I said distastefully. Lo came in, shrieking as her hair dripped mayo. Emma and I sighed, and helped her get the stuff out of her hair. A whistle from the kitchen blew, signifying our shifts were over. "Great, now we only have another three hours before the end of initiation."

XxXxX

The three of us arrived back at the staff house, as per Kelly's request. There we found Fin wearing a pair of green alien ears, and Broseph, who looked… not too bad actually.

"Dude, you look like you just woke up," I said to him. "What'd Johnny do to you?" He held up his hands.

"Dude, I'll tell you, it was rough," he said. "Johnny is one mean dude." Just then, Kelly, Johnny and Ty came up, and set trays down in front of each of us, with a little silver platter on each.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Fin said.

"Wow," said Broseph. "I hope it's not worms and grasshoppers. Those are the two things I'm deathly allergic to." He pulled off the lid, revealing it was, in fact, worms and grasshoppers. How did he know? "Oh no, worms and grasshoppers. I've got a doctor's note right here." He handed it to Kelly, who peered at it, then at Johnny.

"What's the big deal?" asked Fin, removing her own lid. "My brothers made me eat worms when I was five." Then, without further ado, she lifted a worm above her mouth, and dropped it in. The rest o0f us just about gagged.

"Okay," I said with a deep breath. I opened my own lid, and found, just as the others had, two worms and two grasshoppers. "I love _Fear Factor_. Let's do it." I put a grasshopper to my lips, and took a bite. It was crunchy, and a liquid squirted out. I nearly gagged, but swallowed it with a disgusted gulp.

"So nasty," said Lo, as Fin and I continued to eat. Once we were done, we pushed the trays away, and bumped our knuckles together.

"Okay you two," Kelly said. "Get changed into your surf gear, and meet us at the beach. You two Broseph. Oh ladies…" she gestured to Emma and Lo's plates. They removed the lids, revealing not two of each insect, but heaping piles of them. Lo screamed.

"Yo, that is harsh," Broseph said, as he, Fin and I went to get changed.

XxXxX

"Alright groms," said Johnny, as we stood on the beach. There was a large, industrial style barrel, full of some sort of goop. "Your next task is one that has been a tradition for fifteen years of initiations. You'll be surfing covered in petroleum jelly!"

"We'll slide right off our boards!" exclaimed Broseph.

"Sound's easy enough," said Fin. "At least it's surfing, right?" The rest of us nodded slowly, and Fin was the first to submerge herself in the large tub of grease. Broseph went next, and then myself. Emma came after, and we practically had to push Lo into, what she called, "the nastiest looking gunk on the beach."

Paddling out was a challenge by itself, and things only got harder when the waves came. I could barely popup, and when I finally managed to, I slid off immediately. I came up, and witnessed Emma pearl off the front of her board. Fin bailed out soon after, and Broseph got barreled. I sighed, got back on my board, and went for another one. I executed the popup, but almost immediately got thrown off and fell into the water.

This went on four at least twenty minutes, and when we finally dragged ourselves onto shore, the five of us had been worked to the bone. "What's it called when you face plant off the front of the board?" Emma asked.

"Pearling," I informed her. "Saw that one, by the way." We approached the seniors, panting and tired. Broseph fell to his knees.

"No more, dudes," he pleaded. "It's too much…" Kelly smirked.

"But we have so much more for you to do," she said excitedly. "Now come along groms."

XxXxX

First came a physical task. The seniors rounded us up, and had us carry four watermelons each up one of the steepest hills in the woods. Broseph, Reef and I brought up the back, letting the girls go in front. This proved to be a mistake, as Emma and Lo both lost their grips and came tumbling down the hill. I had barely enough time to drop my watermelons before Emma came barreling into me, still holding two melons. I fell into Reef, who fell on Broseph. We were all lying in a big dog pile, covered in smashed watermelon. The seniors brought us more, and we continued up the hill.

Next, we were buried in the sand. This doesn't sound too bad, until you take into account the dozens of crabs that scattered around our heads and necks. The snapped their claws menacingly close to our faces, and one pinched my nose. "Ah!" I hollered in pain, prompting laughs from the seniors.

Finally, Ripper and Lance took Broseph, Reef and I to the staff changing room.

"Where're the girls at?" Reef asked.

"Kelly and Johnny are making 'em fight with spray paint," Ripper said. "But we're gonna have the _real_ fun." The three of us gave a collective gulp. Lance reached into a locker, and pulled out three binkies, bonnets, and large diapers.

"Put these on, groms," he said. He shoved them in our hands, and pointed to the changing rooms. We all exchanged looks of embarrassment, and shamefully walked into the changing rooms.

We all walked out, and were too ashamed to make eye contact. Ripper and Lance were rolling on the floor.

"Aww…" said Ripper mockingly. "Don't you boys look cute? Come on now, into the stroller." Lance wheeled a large, three seat baby stroller out from behind a locker. Ripper pointed to the seats. The three of us sighed, and sat, albeit begrudgingly.

The seniors wheeled us out of the locker room, and took us a few times around the lobby. We got stares, we got laughs, and a few gasps of astonishment.

"Dude," I whispered to Broseph, who was in between Reef and me. "The Office better be worth this caca."

After a few more goes around the lobby, the seniors took us to one of the bathrooms, and unclipped our seat belts.

"We done now, guys?" Reef asked. The two seniors exchanged looks.

"Almost," said Lance. Then, without warning, the seniors reached forward, grabbed our large diapers, and pulled them down. We quickly covered our business with our hands.

"Perfect ending to Initiation, wouldn't you say No-Pants?" Ripper asked. Lance chuckled, and the two ran off. "See you at the staff house!" Ripper called over his shoulder. The three of us stood, naked, in a public bathroom.

"You had to bring up the groms running naked, didn't you?" I asked Broseph. He winced apologetically. "Alright, how're we supposed to get to the staff house with no one noticing?"

"We can't bro," Reef said. "We just need to run for it." I looked to Broseph, who shrugged. "For The Office?" Reef asked.

"For The Office!" Broseph and I exclaimed, and the three of us ran out of the bathroom door. There was a long hallway, which was empty (thank god) but we soon entered the lobby. We made it about five steps before someone caught sight of us.

"They're naked!" came someone's voice. It was a child in the gift shop, with Bummer standing nearby. He saw us, and his mouth dropped to the floor.

"Reef! Broseph! Nate!" he shouted. "What d'you think you're doing?!" We didn't stop, for fear he'd administer strikes. So we kept running, out the door and down the street. The Kahuna walked past.

"Move Kahuna!" shouted Reef, and the older man jumped to avoid us.

As we continued to run, we passed by several resort goers, who whistled or gave cat calls mockingly. Our faces turned red as Reef's board, and we finally arrived at the staff house. The girls were already there, and they giggled uncontrollably as we bolted up the stairs, and flung on our boardshorts.

We returned to the porch, and slumped down next to the others. The seniors walked over, Ripper in the lead.

"I've got to give it to you," said the Australian surfer. "You groms are pretty hardcore! I am pleased to report that you—"

"Wait!" called Kelly. The seniors and groms alike looked to her, confused. "We still have seventeen minutes until the end of initiation. There's time for one more test."

XxXxX

"Somewhere in this bin is a keychain, with a surfboard on it," Kelly said, emptying a small bucket into a large dumpster. "Find the surfboard in the next fifteen minutes, or you're all out!"

"Nast!" I said.

"I'm done-zo," said Reef.

"That is just nasty!" said Fin.

"_SO_ ripe!" exclaimed Broseph. It was unanimous; diving in garbage was way too much. We weren't even sure if the seniors actually found The Office, or were just holding it over our heads. We were ready to give in, until…

"You guys are quitting _now_?" Emma asked. "After everything we've gone through? We have a chance to be locals at a legendary break! A break that's only been ridden by a few people… ever! Perfect, uncrowded waves. And _we_ get to surf there." She walked over to the garbage bin, and lifted the lid. "Are you really going to let a little stinky garbage get in the way of the best waves in the country?" She climbed in the bin. "Because I'm not!"

"Me neither!" yelled Reef. He ran forward, and jumped on a rather large cardboard box. It propelled him upwards. "Yeehaw!" he shouted. I shrugged.

"Might as well," I said. I ran forward, jumped on the box, and flew towards the trash. "For The Office!" I crashed into the trash, and sent it flying everywhere. Fin followed me, and Broseph after her. Eventually Lo sighed, and walked up.

"Scoot over," she said. Emma and I helped her into the bin, and she gave Emma a big hug. "Anyone who loves surfing that much deserves to see The Office. Plus," she whispered. "It'll totally tick Kelly off if we find it. Now dig people! Dig!" We all stuck our hands and faces into the reeking trash. Oh man, it was so rank! But, in only a few minutes, Lo popped her head out, something small in her hands. "I found it! I found it!" The rest of us emerged, shrieking with joy. Reef, Broseph and I lifted Lo into the air into a sort of victory carry, but set her back down in a bit in order to pump our fists in the air.

Ty walked over, clapping his hands together. "Congratulations, you've all officially passed initiation!" The rest of us cheered and screamed.

"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Reef. "_Let's get worked!_"

XxXxX

The seniors led us through the woods. Reef and I realized he had actually been getting pretty close earlier today, but the seniors clued us in on some key landmarks to know we were on the right track.

"First, there's the taco rock," he said, gesturing to a large rock that was, in fact, shaped like a giant taco. "It might not taste great, but it's still useful for finding The Office." We walked a bit further, and found the second landmark.

"The next is the shaka sign," Lance explained, nodding to a large wooden sign that was shaped like a shaka hand. "The pinky finger points in the right direction. Remember that." We nodded, and continued walking. Then we came to the last landmark.

"This is the totem pole," explained Ty, gesturing to the large totem pole sticking out of the ground. "Whoever put it here first probably had some kind of special name for it. We call him Bob. Take a left at Bob, and then…" He led us past the totem, and all our breaths were taken away.

The Office was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. White sand, tall trees, and even a waterfall leading into a small pool area. There was a fire pit in the center of the beach, with logs arranged as seating. The sand under our feet was soft and warm, and the sun shone directly onto our faces.

And the waves. Oh my god, the waves. Perfect, almost every one of them. Huge, at least nine feet at the smallest. No kooks, no tourists, no one besides the locals. And now we were counted among those locals.

"Well…" asked Ripper suddenly, snapping us all out of the trance this amazing place had put us in. "Get in there, groms!" We cheered, and ran for the breaking waves.

Reef caught the first ride. He rode along the face of the wave, moved to the peak, and executed a perfect aerial. He followed it off with a sick cutback, then exited the wave. Next was Broseph, who flew into the air and did a 360 with ease. Fin followed suit, hanging ten for at least half a minute. I was next.

I quickly paddled out for the nearest swell. It was a beauty; double overhead at least. I popped up, and rode it along for a while. The most perfect barrel formed, and I rode into it. Just before it crashed down around me, I shout out of the front like a rocket. I slowly rode the momentum back to the lineup, where the others were waiting.

"Man that was awesome!" I exclaimed. "Make up for this morning, Bro?" I asked Broseph, referencing how I'd gotten worked earlier the same day. He nodded.

"Guys, there goes Emma," said Fin, pointing. We turned our attention to the small speck of red we saw riding on a steadily growing wave.

"What d'you think she'll do?" asked Reef. None of us had an answer, but it didn't matter. She'd only been up a few moments when the wave over took her, and she fell into the water. We all winced.

"Chiquita got worked!" exclaimed Broseph.

The rest of the afternoon, bleeding into the night, continued on like this. The Office was, without a doubt, the most amazing surf spot any of us had ever experienced. Despite the threat of getting worked (hard, might I add) the waves were just so perfect and natural, they were easy to ride. As we paddled in, laughing and joking with each other, the seniors (minus Kelly, who did not surf) walked over.

"Nice sesh, guys," said Ripper. "And there's plenty more where that came from. But only if you keep the 'Office Code of Secrecy'." We all exchanged glances.

"The what?" asked Reef.

"It's pretty simple, guys," Lance says. "Basically, don't tell anyone about The Office. That means no bringing betties here, guys." Reef, Broseph and I all sighed. "This spot is just for us, 'kay? No tourists, no staff that we didn't give the okay to. And especially no kooks." Ty and Ripper nodded in agreement.

"If you break this code," Ripper said. "There _will_ be shunning, and there _will_ be punishments. Are we clear?" The six of us exchanged some glances, and then nodded. The seniors smiled.

"Good," said Lance. "Now, who wants a bonfire, huh?"

XxXxX

About twenty minutes later, the sun was sinking below the horizon, and we were sitting on the logs around the fire pit, along with Lance, Ty and Ripper, who was strumming his guitar. Should've brought my guitar from home.

"Oh my gosh, this place is amazing!" Fin exclaimed.

"This totally makes it all worth it," said Emma. "Even if we do smell like old fish guts."

"Yeah and it wasn't even that bad," said Broseph, who was seated next to me on my left (Emma being on my right). I made a _pssh_ sound.

"Yeah, right," I said. "We all know Johnny front-desk-guy went way too easy on you." Reef looked around.

"Uh, where _is_ Johnny front-desk-guy?" he asked. The seniors snickered.

"He's paying for letting Broseph off easy," Ty said, and bumped fists with Lance. "Broseph, he showed you the whale suit, right?" We looked to Broseph, who nodded.

"Man, that thing was rank," he said. "Why, did you… Oh dude! So sick." We exchanged confused looks, but the seniors and Broseph were too busy laughing to explain.

"Anyone bring 'mallows?" asked Reef. Emma leaned behind our log, pulled out a bag, and tossed them to Reef. He nodded a thanks, his mouth too full to say anything. I sighed heavily.

"Sucks we still have to go tom work tomorrow," I said. "I'd rather just live here all the time." A few others nodded.

"But at least we know there's a place to go after work each day," offered Fin. "Something to make it all worth it." I nodded, and put a marshmallow on a twig, roasting it over the fire.

"One thing's for sure," Lance said. "I'm sure glad I'm not Johnny right now." We all laughed. The night went on, with talking, chatting, and laughing, until we all had to bid The Office farewell. Until tomorrow, anyway.


	6. Adventures in Hall Sitting

Chapter Six

Adventures in Hall Sitting

"And here's your bill, sir," I said, handing a rather rotund man a bill for his lunch. "I hope you enjoyed dining with us. I'll be back to pick that up in just a minute." I walked off towards the counter at the entrance, where Emma and Lo were also sitting. I sat next to them, and sighed heavily.

"Man, the lunch rush can't end soon enough," I complained. "Why do so many people need to eat?"

"Rough day?" asked Lo.

"Can you tell?" I asked. "Man, The Office is calling me right now. You guys are in for a quick sesh after work, right?"

"Definitely!" said Emma, and Lo just nodded. "Do you think Ty will be there, Lo?"

"Ugh, gag," Lo said. "I don't get what you see in my brother, Emma." Emma put her chin in her hand, and gazed off in the distance.

"Oh, I don't know," she mused. "He's just so smart, and nice, and cute, and…"

"Now I wish I had more tables to wait," I said, making Lo giggle. Kelly walked over, her hands on her hips.

"Oh Lo," she said. "Table six needs their check. As in now." Lo, with a sigh, got up to deliver the check. "Doesn't she get that we all want to get out of here, not just you three?"

"Where're you going after work, Kelly?" Emma asked. "We're headed to The Office. You should come grab a sesh." I knew Emma was just begin nice, but I really wish she wouldn't. The _last_ thing we needed was Kelly at The Office. Luckily that didn't seem to be part of her plans.

"I'd rather clean the grease pans with my hair," she said, with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"What d'you have against surfing, anyway?" I asked.

"It's none of your business!" she said, and walked off in a huff. Just then my phone buzzed, telling me I'd gotten a text. I pulled it out and flipped it open.

_You and the ladies coming to The Office after work?_ came the text from Broseph. _Reef says there's some tasty swells today._ I smiled. One of the many benefits of having a surf instructor for a friend was that you'd always know what kind of wave conditions you were in for.

_You know it!_ I texted back. _You think Ty's gonna have his camera. Told my bro back home I'd send him a vid of me shredding at The Office._

_ I don't know, bro,_ came the response. _I'm off in five. Meet you guys there, yeah?_

_ Alright dude, later._ I put my phone away. "Reef told Broseph the waves are sick today." I informed Emma. She squealed, as she often does, in excitement.

"Oh, I can't wait!" she said. "How much more of this shift do we have?" I glanced at my phone again to check the time.

"About ten minutes," I said. "But it'll probably feel like twenty." Just then Lo sat back down next to us.

"I hate people," she said, then made her voice go nasally and mocking. "Oh, miss, can you just deduct that from our bill? It was a little cold. Blegh, tourists are the worst."

"You know," I pointed out. "If not for tourists, your dad wouldn't make any money." Lo thought this over, then slumped in her seat.

"Well, _serving_ tourists is the worst." She corrected herself.

The last ten minutes of our shift dragged on for what felt like ages. Finally, however, Kelly rang the bell, and Lo, Emma and I bolted for the changing room. We changed as quickly as we could, and made a beeline for the staff house to get our swimsuits. When we arrived, Reef and Fin were also there.

"Broseph tells me we've got some tasty swells today," I said to Reef.

"Double overhead at least, dude!" he exclaimed. "Come on, get your boardshorts on, we've got waves to catch!" Broseph and Johnny were nowhere to be found, so we assumed they were already at The Office.

As Reef and I emerged from our room, and quickly made it down the stairs, the girls did the same. The five of us were about to head for the path to The Office, when a stern "ahem" from behind us made us stop.

"Where do you all think you're going?" asked Bummer. We slowly turned around to face our boss.

"Uh, to catch some tasty waves?" Reef tried. Bummer shook his head.

"I need two of you to hall sit tonight," he said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Um… hall sit?" I asked. "What d'you mean Bum—er, Baumer?" Reef and Fin quickly exchanged looks.

"Uh, we hall sat a few days ago, remember?" asked Fin. "I think we should be able to opt out of this one." Bummer nodded. Lo seized her chance, and quickly picked up.

"Yeah, and Daddy doesn't want me anywhere near the hotel rooms," she said. "He wouldn't want me hall sitting." Bummer nodded again.

"Can someone please explain what hall sitting is?" I nearly shouted. Bummer smiled, somewhat wickedly.

"Come on, I'll show you," he said. "You too Emma; this is a job for two." I exchanged a look with Emma, who shrugged. Reef quickly put a hand on each of our shoulders.

"Have fun," he said, and then ran to The Office with Fin and Lo. Exchanging another look of confusion, Emma and I walked after Bummer back towards the hotel.

XxXxX

Room 441 had two children in it; Mark and Todd Marvin, or as the staff called them, the Terror Twins. Across from that room was a small bench, and that's where Emma and I were sitting. I slumped down.

"This is actually the worst thing that could be happening right now," I complained. "I told you how bad I wanted The Office before, right?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Well, check this out," I showed her my phone. Johnny had texted me a video of Reef shredding an eleven footer at The Office. "They're out having all this fun, and we're stuck watching two kids." Emma sighed.

"Major unfairness," she said. Just then my phone buzzed again. A call from my brother. I picked it up.

"What Jackson?" I asked.

"You're not too busy at The Office to pick up your phone, huh?" he asked. He didn't believe that the seniors had actually showed it to us.

"Dude, I swear we know where it is!" I tried. "Here, ask Emma," I covered the phone as I handed it to her. "It's my brother. Just tell him we found The Office. He doesn't believe me." She took the phone.

"He's not lying," she told my brother. "We'll send you a pic tomorrow, 'kay?" She handed the phone back to me. I put it to my ear.

"She sounds hot," Jackson said. "You're having all the fun." I chuckled.

"You have no idea," I said. "Not right now, though. We're stuck babysitting two bratty kids while the others are shredding. You know it's totally going off right now?" He laughed.

"That's rough," he said. "I got to go. Mom just made sloppy joes. Later bro!" He hung up. I groaned.

"Great, missing the waves here, and the sloppy joes at home," I said. "Can this day get worse?" Emma patted me on the back.

We sat for a while, not really saying much, except the occasional complaint. After a while, however, Emma sat up in her seat.

"It's really, _really_ quite right now…" she mused. I listened too, and realized she was right. Earlier the kids had been fighting and making a ruckus, but now…

"I'll check on them," I offered. Bummer had given us both master keys (just until we were done hall sitting) and I used it to slowly open the door. "Guys…?" I called. No response. I opened the door wider, and found the place a mess. "Fin's gonna have a fun day tomorrow." I mused. But then I saw something that made my jaw drop. The door to the balcony was thrown open, and two long ropes, made of bed sheets tied together, were hanging off the railing. The kids were gone.

"Uh, Emma," I called. "We've got a problem in here!" She ran in, and I pointed to the railing. "They're gone." Emma gasped.

"Nate!" she yelled. "We've been in watching these kids for less than two hours, and we already screwed up. The parents are gonna kill us, not to mention Bummer! What're we going to do?" I put my hands on her shoulders.

"Okay, chill out," I said. "Here, I'll text everyone. Get them on kid alert." I pulled out my phone, talking as I typed. "Sending it to Fin, Reef, Broseph, Johnny, Lo, Ripper, Lance, hell even Kelly and Ty. Okay… Terror Twins are out somewhere. Keep on high alert. Text me or Emma if you see anything. And… send."

"Okay, good," said Emma. "Now what do we do?"

"I don't know," I said. "Don't you have brothers?"

"They're all older!" she said. "What about Jackson, he's younger than you."

"By a year," I said. "I was busy causing trouble with him, and when I grew out of it, so did he. Now think, if you were an eight year old little twerp at a fancy hotel, where would you go?" We thought for a moment, then Emma snapped her fingers.

"Pirate ship!" she said. "Kids love pirates, I think."

"It's better than nothing," I said, shrugging. "Come on, let's go!"

We ran for the DR, brushing past guests and staff alike. We walked into the huge pirate themed restaurant, and scanned the area for signs of destruction or mayhem. Nothing seemed abnormal at first, but then there was a shriek from one of the people eating. She was pointing almost straight up, and as Emma and I followed her finger, we both gasped. One of the kids, either Mark or Todd (we couldn't tell the difference) was currently climbing in the rafters.

"We've got to get him down!" Emma cried.

"I'm on it, don't worry," I said. I ran towards one of the ropes that led to the rafters. They were used for decoration, obviously, but who said they couldn't be climbed? So I grabbed on and quickly shimmied up. The higher I got, I realized how crazy stupid this was. But I wasn't about to get fired because some dumb kid wanted to play pirate, so I grimaced and climbed higher.

Reaching the top of the rope, I tentatively stepped onto one of the wooden rafters. I heard it creak worryingly, and I gulped heavily as I slowly moved towards the child.

"Hey buddy," I called over to him. "This is fun, huh? But you know what's more fun? Watching a movie in your hotel room. Let's get back there, yeah?" He blew a raspberry at me.

"Make me, waiter!" he called. He grabbed onto another rope, and climbed higher. For a chubby kid, he sure could move. I sighed, grabbed the rope nearest me, and climbed as well.

"Come on kid!" I yelled. "Get back down and… you can have free desert for a week." I had no idea if I could make this promise, but it seemed like the only logical thing to do. The Marvin kid seemed to think about it.

"Make it two!" he called. I shrugged.

"Fine, two weeks!" I hollered. "Now come here!" Without giving him the chance to respond, I quickly swung off my rope to his. I grabbed the rope with one hand, and his shirt with the other. "Gotchya!" I shouted triumphantly. I slowly lowered myself down, keeping a tight grip on the Marvin kid. When I reached the ground, Emma ran up and gave me a squeeze.

"Nate that was amazing!" she shouted. "You were like James Bond or something!" I smiled.

"Does that make you my Bond Girl?" I joked. The Marvin kid made a gagging noise.

"Oh yuck!" he said.

"Quiet you," I said. "Now, where's your brother?"

"How should I know?" he said. "We split up when I came to the pirate ship." I sighed heavily. Just then my phone buzzed, as did Emma's. We both pulled them out.

_Marvin kid spotted at the beach. _It was a text from Lance, which he'd sent to both of us. _Didn't stay here long though. Looks like he was headed back for the hotel._ I put my phone away.

"Lance?" I asked Emma. She nodded. "Okay, now where to?"

"Put him back in the room," Emma said, gesturing to the Marvin kid. "Then we'll find his brother."

We dropped the Marvin kid off in his room, after double locking all the doors, even the one to the balcony. Then we continued the search. As we walked, Emma brought up a good point.

"Why don't their parents do something about their terrible kids?" she asked. "Seriously, they're monsters."

"The parents or the kids?" I asked, only half joking. "But I get what you mean. Maybe if we—" My phone rang suddenly. I didn't recognize the number. I picked it up curiously. "Uh, hello?"

"Dude, the smaller dude got the Whale Bus man!" came a familiar voice. It took me a second to put it to a face.

"Kahuna?" I asked suddenly, realizing who it was. "How'd you get my number?"

"No time to explain, dude!" Kahuna shouted. "One of those kids got the Whale Bus man. That's my bus!"

"Okay, calm down," I said. I put the phone on speaker so Emma could hear as well.  
"You're on speaker phone. Now, tell us what happened."

"Okay, okay…" said Kahuna, taking a few deep breaths. "I brought the bus back, and left the keys in the ignition when I went inside real quick to take a quick whizz."

"Okay, too much info Kahuna," said Emma.

"Then when IU got back," Kahuna said, ignoring Emma's comment. "One of those kids got into the bus. I tried to stop him, but he locked the door on me man! I didn't even know that thing had a lock on it!"

"Kahuna, focus!" I said. "What happened next?"

"Oh yeah, right," he said. "Anyway, the kid must've hit the gas, 'cause the bus started rolling away. I got no idea how he's driving it, but he is dude!"

"What direction?" I asked.

"Going into town," he said. "You groms gotta stop him. If that bus does any damage, it's tickets for me. Help the Kahuna out."

"We're on it Kahuna, don't worry." Said Emma, and I hung up the phone. We ran out the front door of the lobby, and then stopped, realizing we had no idea how to catch a bus.

"What do we do now?" I asked. "No way we can catch up to a _bus_, especially when it had a head start." Emma suddenly snapped her fingers.

"Golf carts!" Emma said. "You've seen people riding around on them, right? Employees use them all the time."

"You want to ride a golf cart after a bus?" I asked. She nodded vigorously. I shrugged. "Why not? But we still need to find a golf cart. Where does Bummer even keep them?"

Just then, as if the universe was finally throwing us a bone, Rosie the maid drove by on a golf cart. Emma and I quickly ran after her. "What is it?" she asked.

"Rosie, we _really_ need to borrow that golf cart," Emma said. "_Please_?" She smiled sweetly, but Rosie just laughed it off.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for that face," she said. "I'm immune after working for Lauren's family for so long." I sighed.

"You know those Marvin kids?" I asked. She nodded. "Well, one of them jacked the Whale Bus. If anything happens, Emma, Kahuna and me will all be out of our jobs. And now you will too, since you're getting in the way of us catching him. So if you just give us the golf cart, we'll go get him, and we can all keep our jobs." Rosie narrowed her eyes, but sighed after a moment.

"Fine, here you go," she said, handing me the keys. "But if you bang it up, I'll tell Bummer it was all your idea." I smiled, thanked Rosie, and sat in the golf cart.

"Do you know how to drive one of these?" Emma asked me, as I put the keys in the ignition.

"No," I admitted sheepishly. "But I got my license two months ago, so how hard can it be." And with that I put my foot on the gas, and we sped along down the road. Well, sped is all relative; this thing only went about ten miles an hour. But we made good time, and we slowly got into town.

XxXxX

About twenty minutes later, we got into town. We were both bored out of our minds, and the golf cart was beginning to run out of gas. Then, suddenly, Emma gasped and grabbed my wrist.

"There's the bus!" she shouted, and pointed. It was parked outside a store called the Surf Shack.

"Isn't that Broseph's mom's store?" I asked. Broseph had mentioned it a few times in idle chit chat. Said he used to work there before becoming Surfer's Paradise's new bellhop.

"Do you think he's inside?" Emma asked. I shrugged.

"Maybe," I said. "Let's check it out." I pulled off the road and parked the cart next to the shop. I glanced at the Whale Bus. "Wow, that kid parallel parks better than I do."

Walking into the shop, it was clear the Marvin kid had been here. Surfboards were on the ground, boardshorts and bikinis were strung up all around a large tree growing in the center of the store, and tubes of sun screen were emptied all over the walls. A twenty-something year old dude walked over to us.

"You guys here for that kid?" he asked. "Little dude's been causing all kinds of trouble. He's in the back." He gestured over his shoulder to a door leading to the back of the store. Emma and I quickly rushed in the back to find the Marvin kid being held down by another employee. We gabbed him, and thanked the employees.

"You groms gonna pay for the damages?" one of them asked.

"Uh… we're friends with the owner's kid," I tired. This actually worked, as the employees both brightened up.

"Oh, you dudes are friends with Broseph?" he asked. "Cool. Tell him we say what's up." I nodded, and Emma and I left, carrying the Marvin child by his arms.

XxXxX

After getting both kids back into their room, and waiting for the parents to return, Emma and I slowly walked to the staff house. It was nearly ten, and the others were just arriving back from a session at The Office. Emma and I slumped down on the couch.

"Whoa!" Broseph said, seeing the state we were in. "Rough night you guys?" We were too tired to respond. Chasing those kids all over was way more tiring than it sounded (especially considering that, when we had gotten back to the hotel, the first Marvin kid had escaped, and we needed to track him down again).

"Never… hall sitting… again…" I managed, causing Fin and Reef to chuckle. "It's too late to head back to The Office, isn't it?" I asked.

"Way too late," Fin said. "It's pitch black over there, not to mention the woods."

"I didn't surf a single wave all day," I complained. "And I don't even get a pay bonus or anything."

"Don't you mean _we_ don't?" asked Emma next to me.

"Yeah, we," I said. "Emma and I just had the worst day… ever!" The others laughed. I was too tired to complain any more, and I suddenly fell asleep right on the couch, with Emma by my side.


	7. Movie Night

_Author's Note: Hello everybody! Welcome to a new chapter to everyone's favorite Stoked fic. Now, I don't want to sound like I'm begging for attention, but I really could use more reviews. I want to know what you guys want to see in this story, and if I'm doing good so far. So please, take, like, two minutes to share your thoughts. Thanks, now please enjoy!_

Chapter Seven

Movie Night

I quickly set silverware down at a table, waiting for someone to come and sit there. The DR was pretty empty though; just a few guests, and the Marvin boys. Man I hated them. Is it wrong to hate someone that's so small?

Emma walked over to me, with a weird look on her face. "The Marvin kids just ordered baking soda and vinegar, to put on top of their hotdogs," she told me. "That's nasty, right?" My eyes widened.

"Did you already bring it to them?" I asked.

"Yeah…" she said. "Why does it—" BOOM! Hotdogs went flying everywhere. I had to duck out of the way just to not get a wiener up my nose.

"That's why," I said. Emma had a bun sticking in her hair. I pulled it out for her, and gestured to a table where the kid's parents were sitting. "We should say something." Emma nodded, and we walked over. She tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Hi, I'm Emma," she said. "The server at your son's table. Do you think you could keep a _slightly_ closer eye on them? Mr. Marvin laughed heartily.

"They're just being boys!" he assured us. I sighed.

"Sir," I said. "I'm a boy as well, and uh, we don't all behave like that."

"Oh, let them have their fun," Mrs. Marvin said. "They're enjoying this vacation so much." I exchanged a look with Emma, and we sighed, and walked away.

A bit later, from inside the kitchen, I heard a crash. I came rushing out, and found Emma surrounded by broken glass and plates. I rushed over. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, rubbing a sore spot on her head. "Those kids are really getting on my nerves."

"Yours and everyone else's," I mumbled. "Come on, our shift is almost over. I'll help you clean it up and then we'll get out of here." She smiled her thanks as we began cleaning up broken plates.

"I _need_ to get on the waves today," Emma said. "Coming to The Office with me?"

"You know it!" I said. "I need to get a sesh in. Besides, my bro's still expecting a pick, remember?"

"Oh, right," she said. "Ask Ty to take one. He's got a video camera anyway, he'll probably take a pic with your phone."

"If he's there, I'll ask," I said. "Now come on, let's get these plates cleaned up and hit the beach."

XxXxX

After an excellent session at The Office, Reef, Fin, Johnny, Emma, Broseph, Lo and I were relaxing on the beach. The sun was dipping low and we were all tired from a long day on the waves. We were relaxing, like any normal day, when suddenly Fin brought something up.

"Hey Reef," she said, from her spot in the sand next to him. "Who was that girl we saw you flirting with today at the beach?" Emma had told me about this; she and Fin had noticed Reef flirting with one of his students. But I didn't get what the big deal was.

"Who, Blaire?" Reef asked. "Oh yeah, she's totally into me."

"Hot?" I asked.

"Way," he said. He had to speak up a bit, since we were sitting across from each other. We were all in a sort of V formation, with Johnny next to Fin, who was next to Reef, who was next to Emma. On the other side was me, next to Lo, next to Broseph. I gave Reef a thumbs up.

"Okay, she's into you," Fin said. "But why? Could it be all those perfect things you were saying to her?" Where was she going with this? "You know, all those lines you fed her. Lines from _Break Point_!"

"That old surf flick where a policeman learns to surf?" I clarified. "The one with Keanu Kole?"

"That's the one!" Fin said, sounding slightly accusatory. "Lover boy here was using a bunch of quotes to flirt with his surf student."

"So I used lines from _Break Point_," Reef said. "Big deal. I can't help it if Blaire's never seen any quality police surfing flicks."

"See, that's why they should've hired a _girl_ surf instructor," said Fin.

"Oh right, and you wouldn't hit on hot guy students?" pointed out Johnny. Fin crossed her arms.

"Okay, maybe I would," she said. "But I wouldn't be all bad actor about it." Reef suddenly wrapped an arm around Fin's shoulders.

"I think the line that really got her was; Let me… take you… to the edge with me." He said confidently.

Broseph and I exchanged a look, and simultaneously shouted, "Weak!" and then high fived over Lo's head.

"It's like trying to pass off a knock off bag as a designer," Lo said. "I hate it when they do that."

"I didn't hear any complaints from the customer!" Reef said happily.

"Hey hey!" Broseph said, drawing the conversation away from Reef. "We all down with movie night in town tomorrow? The Kahuna shows all surf movies, all the time!"

"Really?" asked Emma excitedly. "That's awesome!"

"He has every one ever made!" Broseph said, taking pride in this.

"I'm down," I said. "Let's do it."

"Sweet!" said Reef. "I'll see if Blaire's in." He walked off to call his lady friend. I turned to Broseph.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "We get off work, quick surf sesh, and then get to the theater?" Broseph nodded.

"Yeah, but there's something you should all know," he said. "Kahuna doesn't charge cash for tickets."

"Extra sweet!" said Fin.

"Yeah, but he takes random little objects as payment," Broseph said. "So grab something to give him before we head out, 'kay?" We nodded, and Broseph stood. "Alright, cool. Let's head in for the night, dudes. It's getting dark."

XxXxX

The next day dragged on and on. It should've been a pretty chill day, but the Marvin Twins were running amok. Bummer had given us all the OK to ditch our work, but only on the condition that we help deal with them. Currently I was helping Broseph haul luggage out of the pool.

"If it wasn't illegal, and if I wouldn't lose my job, I would put those kids so far underground," I said. "I'm serious brah." Broseph chuckled.

"I get it, dude," he said, as we slowly lifted a large pink suitcase out of the shallow end. "They even make _me_ lose my cool." We placed the suitcase down, and went in for the rest of the bags. "Yo, did you hear what Fin did?"

"No, what?" I asked.

"She asked the Kahuna to play _Break Point_ tonight," he said. My eyes widened.

"No way!" I said. "She knows Reef's bringing Blaire." I suddenly realized what was going on. "Wait, maybe she did that on purpose. She asked Kahuna to screen it _because_ Reef's bringing her. She wants to make him look like an idiot." Broseph whistled in surprise.

"Oh dude," he said. "Do we tell Reef about this?" I shrugged.

"The Bro Code says we do," I said, referencing the unwritten laws of bro-hood that all dudes follow. "So I think yes."

"But Fin's our bro too," Broseph said. "You know, kind of. Plus I kind of want to see what happens with Reef, you know?" I mulled it over.

"True that," I said. "…Alright, we don't tell him." We heaved a huge duffel bag out of the water. "Man, this' going to be one interesting night." Broseph chuckled. Just then, the Marvin kids ran by. I gritted my teeth together. "I hate those kids."

"You know they were beating the mascot like a piñata earlier?" said Broseph. My eyes widened.

"That poor guy," I said, and we spent the next half hour pulling people's luggage out of the pool, and were then instructed to help pick up after the Marvin wave of destruction until our shifts ended. A quick session at The Office was just what I needed after that day, and then we were off to the movies.

XxXxX

The moon was high in the sky as we boarded the Whale Bus. We were all dressed about as fancy as surfers could be, and by that I mean I was wearing khakis instead of boardshorts. I only speak for the guys; the girls, surprisingly, were wearing rather fancy dresses. I assumed they were some of Lo's, because I don't know where else Fin or Emma would get dresses like that.

Boarding the bus, Reef took Blaire to their own seat. Ty came on, and he too was with a girl. Emma saw this, and narrowed her eyes a bit. I noticed, and for some reason felt… jealous? No… maybe… I don't know. But she looked really good in that dress. I mean, uh, all the girls looked good.

I sat down next to Broseph. Johnny sat behind us. Next to him saw Lo and Fin, and in front of her (next to me on the other side of the aisle) was Emma. I leaned over slightly.

"Uh, nice dress," I said.

"Aw, thanks," she said. "I like your pants. Nice change from the boardshorts." I shrugged.

"Feels weird not to be wearing 'em, though," I said. "So, what'd you bring the Kahuna for payment?" She shushed me, and pointed out the fact that Kahuna was driving. I was not aware this was supposed to be a secret. I was also confused as to how he would run the theater _and_ drive the bus, but I didn't ask. I shrugged again, and turned my attention to Broseph. We chatted about surf and Betties for a while, until the bus stopped and we got out at the theater.

Kahuna quickly rushed inside, and locked the door. We were all confused, until he reappeared behind the ticket counter. We gave a collective shrug, and moved forward to offer payment. Before we did, though, a taxi pulled up, and out stepped the Marvin family.

"I cannot believe this," I mumbled to Broseph and Emma, who both nodded in agreement.

"Pay with whatever you've got, compadres," Kahuna said, as we approached the counter. Johnny laid down a computer mouse. "Soon as I get a computer I'll hook this baby up." Said Kahuna. Broseph laid down a small piece of wood with a tiny squirrel glued on.

"Bro, from one soul surfer to another," Broseph said. "Glued the squirrel on _myself_!" Kahuna nodded and smiled, and Broseph walked in after Johnny.

"Last month's copy of _Stoked!_ Magazine," I said, handing him the copy. "Laird Hamilton made the cover." Kahuna took it quickly.

"Aw dude!" he exclaimed. "I've got seven of these! This collection is getting big!" I raised an eyebrow at Kahuna's happiness at getting the same magazine for the eighth time, but didn't question it as I walked inside.

We walked through the lobby and into the theater. It was pretty big; way too big for such a small amount of people, but no one was complaining. Reef took Blaire to the front row, and behind them were Fin and Lo. In the same row as them, I sat down, next to Emma, next to Broseph, who had an aisle seat. There was a large balcony seating area above our heads, and it was from this that the Marvin boys dumped their entire buckets of popcorn on Lo's hair. She got up in a huff, and stormed to the back of the theater, under the balcony.

The movie opened with one of the most iconic lines of any 90's surf film; "Extreme athletes sometimes pay the extreme price." I smiled, and looked to exchange a fist bump with Broseph, but he had fallen asleep.

"Man, those Marvin kids ruining your day must really tire you out, huh?" I said to Emma, motioning to Broseph's sleeping form. Johnny walked in, and sat next to me. He seemed to be a little upset that I was sitting next to Emma, but not like he was going to go postal or anything. Just then Ty got up from his seat, and walked into the lobby of the theater.

"Be right back!" Emma whispered, and slowly got up to follow him out.

"So we pulled a few scams," came the movie. "Money's a source, but only surfing's worth dying for. I'd rather die surfing, than never take any risks." Suddenly Reef shot straight up.

"Excuse me, usher!" he shouted, gesturing to Fin. "There is someone talking behind me!" In response to this, the Marvin kids dumped yet another tub of popcorn on Reef's head. He crossed his arms over his chest, and angrily sat back down.

Blaire left the theater, probably to go to the bathroom. I took my chance, and moved next to Fin. She was talking with Reef, who suddenly said. "You knew _Break Point_ would be playing tonight, didn't you?" he then gasped aloud. "You got the Kahuna to run it! Oh I am so getting you back for this!"

"So how's it going?" I asked. Fin and Reef nearly jumped, and I chuckled. "So, Reef, I wanted to let you know that Broseph and I knew about this whole setup. We had a tough time deciding if we should tell you or not."

"Well why didn't you?" he whispered fiercely. "Bro Code, dude!" I nodded.

"I know, I know," I said. "But Fin's our bro too. In a way."

"Thank you," said Fin.

"Plus, we thought it'd be really funny," I explained. "And guess what? It is. Alright, good luck with this one pal. I'll be over there if you need backup." Of course I wasn't actually offering backup on this one, it was just the polite thing to say.

As I moved back to my seat, I realized that Johnny had taken it. I shrugged and sat in his seat. I then watched as he slowly tried to put his arm around Emma, and she asked if he "needed more space." I nudged Fin, and whispered, "Johnny just got shut _down_!" She giggled, then went back to watching Reef squirm.

"This wasn't a date, was it?" asked Johnny, after Emma had gotten up to go spy on Ty (the girl was a little nuts).

"Why'd you think it _was_?" I asked.

"Because…" he said, trying to come up with the right words. "I was in… the computer… she said… asked if I was going to the movies…" I gave him time to piece together that Emma had just been being polite, not asking him out. He finally got it, and hung his head slightly.

"Aw, come on bro," I said, putting an arm around him. "Being a bachelor's more fun anyway." He smiled, and we watched the movie. I'd just like to note that at this point I took my arm off of Johnny. I mean, I like the dude, but I don't _like_ the dude, you know? Suddenly, from Ty's seat, came;

"No!" We all looked over. It was Emma who'd yelled it, and she was currently smiling sheepishly, with soda all over her chest, as well as the chest of Ty's date. Just then Reef got up, trying to leave.

"No wait, you can't go yet!" Fin said, pinning Reef down in his seat. "My favorite line is coming up." I quickly removed my shoe and tossed it at Broseph, waking him up. I pointed to the screen, then to Reef, as the Keanu Kole's character loudly said;

"Let me… take you… to the edge with me." Blaire gasped. She stood, facing Reef.

"You totally stole all those lines!" she exclaimed. Fin, Broseph and I burst out laughing. Reef was caught, and he wasn't handling it well. Blaire stormed out, and Reef followed quickly.

"Come on, I wanna see what happens!" Fin said excitedly. She, Lo and I quickly ran out of the theater and into the lobby, just in time to see Blaire smash an order of nachos on Reef's hair. "I'm starting to like this girl." Fin said.

I put a hand on Reef's shoulder. "You kind of deserved it, dude," I said. "Learn from this, my brother. Learn from this." Just then, Broseph and Johnny walked out too. The girls had left with Kahuna (something about dresses and Blaire's closet, I don't know) and Ty left with his date.

"Dude, where is everybody?" asked Broseph.

"_Who cares_?" asked Reef. "Those girls are all giving me a headache!"

"Guess we're on our own for the rest of the night," said Johnny. We sat around for a moment, wondering what to do. Kahuna was gone, so we couldn't get back to the hotel. Well, we could walk, but it was pretty far. Then Reef peered into the theater.

"Best scene's coming up." He said. We thought for a moment, then Broseph snapped his fingers.

"Surf in a storm!" he recalled. Johnny and I smiled excitedly. "Sick footage!" And with that, we walked back into the theater to finish the classic movie.

XxXxX

The next day arrived, and with it another day filled with dodging the destruction of the Marvin boys. Emma, Lo and I were working the DR, not yet having to leave our posts to clean up elsewhere. Kelly had ordered Emma to turn the microwave on.

"I've never heard of preheating a microwave," I said, as we walked over to hit the 'on' button. Emma shrugged.

"Whatever Kelly says goes," she reminded me. She hit the button, and almost immediately there was an explosion. White and grey dust filled the air, and Emma and I were sent flying through the air. When the dust cleared I helped Emma to her feet, and went to investigate. She followed, and grabbed some of the white dust. Pressing it to her lips, she said, "Salt. Someone put salt packets in the microwave."

"And pepper," I said, tasting the grey powder. "Bet you five bucks I know who it was." Emma nodded, and we walked out of the kitchen, still coughing. When we arrived in the restaurant, we found Johnny standing there.

"Someone filled the microwave with salt and pepper packets," Emma informed him. The Marvin boys suddenly rushed in, and exchanged a high five. Oh man, I wanted to strangle them so bad.

"Johnny," I said, coughing up salt. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" He nodded.

"Enough is enough!" he said. We each grabbed a child, and hoisted them into the air. "Where are your parents?" he asked his Marvin kid.

"The beach," the kid responded. "Hurt us and we'll sue."

"That is a risk we're willing to take, right Nate?" Johnny asked.

"A hundred percent," I confirmed. Johnny and I marched down towards the beach, each still carrying a little brat. As we went, the rest of the groms kind of fell in line, and when we arrived at the Marvin parents, they were all present.

"I think these belong to you!" Johnny said, and we dropped the boys on their butts. Mr. Marvin seemed a bit flabbergasted. "I don't want to criticize your parenting skills, but I will: they stink! Your little _angels_ have been running wild, disrupting the guests, and terrorizing the staff for two weeks now!"

"No one can get any work done when they're around," I chimed in. "We've tried, oh believe me, we have. But these two kids are pulling us away from our jobs, and making us work over time. Do you know what they did a few days ago?" They sent me and this girl here," I gestured to Emma, who stood with her hands on her hips. "On a wild goose chase! One of them was climbing in the rafters, and the other _stole a bus_!"

"Someone has to say it," Johnny picked up. Both of us were fuming now, and what we said was so unanimously agreed upon that we said it—actually, more like shouted it—at the same time.

"Your kids are awful little monsters, and you need to be better parents!" The Marvin family didn't seem too pleased at this rude awakening.

"Well I never!" exclaimed Mrs. Marvin, as the family began to walk away. "This is our third summer here, and we will _not_ be returning." Emma wrapped her arms around Johnny and me.

"Oh, you guys!" she squealed with glee. "Thank you so much!" Just then, Reef, Broseph, Lo and Fin came over, and lifted Johnny and I into the air as a sign of victory. Baumer walked over.

"You know I have to give you both strikes for that, right?" he asked, being loud on purpose so the Marvin family would hear. Then he leaned in and whispered, "Now I have to go kiss some major guest butt." Johnny and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"We're taking one for the team," said Johnny proudly, and I gave Baumer a thumbs up. Our manager gave us a very rare smile, then ran off to console the Marvins.

"So… what now?" I asked. Reef and the others set Johnny and I down as we pondered what to do next.

"Well…" suggested Johnny. "Bummer's off saving face, and it looks like he's actually pretty happy with us right now. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Office sesh!" exclaimed Broseph and Reef simultaneously.

"To the edge, people!" shouted Fin, referencing _Break Point_.

"To the edge!"


	8. A Bro in Need

_Author's Note: Sorry I don't have time for a long note right now, running late for something. Just, uh, enjoy I guess!_

Chapter Eight

A Bro in Need

The next day started with dawn patrol, which is by far the best way to start any day. The Office supplied us with excellent waves, and even this early in the morning the water was nice and warm. Currently, Fin and I were trying to teach Emma how to execute a cutback.

"Just ride down the face," I said.

"And then just… well, cut back!" said Fin. There was no better way to put it. "Here, I'll show you. Watch carefully." Emma nodded, and Fin paddled after a growing wave. Emma had her eyes glued to Fin. I chuckled.

"What?" Emma asked.

"You're always so eager," I said. "It's funny. I love it." Emma smirked, reached down, and flipped my board over. I came out of the water, and pushed my hair out of my eyes. I squirted a small stream of water at Emma out of my mouth.

"Quit it!" she said, smiling. "I'm trying to learn here." Fin executed the cutback, and Emma nodded like a student in a lecture. Fin returned, and stopped her board in front of Emma and me.

"See?" Fin asked. Emma nodded. "Now go for it!" With a gulp, Emma nodded and began paddling towards the wave. Fin and I moved our boards together, and away from the breaking wave, giving Emma space.

"She gonna get worked?" I asked, lying on my back on my board. Fin shrugged. I sat up to watch Emma attempt the cutback. She started out nice, but in a few moments she had fallen in, the wave crashing over her and obscuring Fin's and my own view.

"Say what you want about her surf skills," Fin said. "But that girl's never afraid to go for it."

"True that," I said.

XxXxX

As we walked back to change into our work clothes, I noticed something. "Guys, has anyone seen Johnny front-desk?" I asked. "I don't think he came with us this morning." The others exchanged a few looks, and shrugged.

"He's a big boy, he'll turn up," Fin said. "Come on, we're gonna be late." We nodded, and quickly went to our rooms to change. Once that was done, we walked together to the hotel. Once we arrived, I saw Johnny. He was standing at his usual post, but looked very worried about something. Before the rest of us split off, I nudged Broseph and Reef, and gestured to Johnny.

"What's eating him?" asked Reef.

"Don't know," I said. "Let's find out." We walked over, and I realized Johnny's expression was more than worried. He looked to be in a full out panic. "Johnny dude, what's up?" I asked.

"Guys!" he whispered fiercely. "You've got to help me out!"

"Sure bro, anything," Reef assured him. "Uh, except cash. I'm kind of low on cash right now." Johnny shook his head.

"Not cash," he said. He looked around, and beckoned us all closer. The three of us leaned in. "I might lose my job!"

"What?" I asked, confused. Johnny was one of Bummer's favorite employees, as well as a great concierge. "Why's that?"  
"The Marvins, that's why!" he said, sounding a bit paranoid. "They gave me a zero out of ten on a staff evaluation card!" I chuckled.

"Dude, same for me," I said. "They're just steamed that we put them in their place. Bummer was there, he gets it." Johnny shook his head again.

"No, that's not all," he said. "They complained about me so loud, that the three families behind them in line all gave me scores below four out of ten!"

"Oh dude!" Broseph said. "That's rough, man."

"If Bummer reads those, it's tickets for me, man!" Johnny said.

"What do you want _us_ to do about it?" Reef asked. Johnny looked around the area again, as if making sure no one was listening in. He leaned in closer, so close that the four of our heads were almost touching.

"Okay, we could all lose our jobs for this," he said, making us all effectively curious. "But I have a plan. All of the staff evals are kept in Bummer's office, somewhere in the hotel. If you guys can get in there and find my evaluations, we can get them away from Bummer before he gets a chance to read them. Only problem is, I don't know exactly where Bummer's Office is. He keeps it a huge secret."

"And why aren't _you_ doing this?" Reef asked.

"If Bummer sees me not at the front desk, he'll be keeping an extra close eye on me, and go to review my evaluations first. I need to be on my game today. So what do you say, will you help me out on this one guys?" He smiled, trying to be convincing. I exchanged looks with Broseph and Reef, and the three of us nodded simultaneously.

"Dude," I said, putting a hand on Johnny's shoulder. "A bro in need is a bro indeed." Johnny smiled with relief.

"Thanks guys," he said with a happy sigh. I turned to Broseph and Reef.

"Okay, Reef and I'll go get someone to cover for us, and meet you back here Broseph." The teens nodded. "Move out, dude!" Reef and I both ran in opposite directions.

I quickly snuck into the kitchen, hoping Kelly wouldn't see me. If I could convince Emma or Lo to cover without Kelly knowing I was here in the first place, everything would be fine. As my luck would have it, all the employees were gathered together, with Kelly giving some sort of directions. I nearly walked right into her line of sight, but quickly dove behind a pile of dirty dishes.

"Nast." I whispered to myself, smelling what I assumed was the Sea Food Special from three nights ago. I sucked it up though, and waited until the cooks and servers dispersed. As soon as Kelly left the kitchen, I sprang from my hiding spot, and grabbed Emma and Lo. Emma nearly shrieked in surprise, but I quickly put a finger to my lips.

"I need you guys to cover for me with Kelly," I said. "It's a matter of life or death!" Lo rolled her eyes.

"Yeah right," she said. "I saw you talking with Reef and Broseph. If you want us to cover so you can get in another sesh, fine. But you don't need to lie about it." So she called my bluff on the life or death thing? Whatever.

"Okay, fine," I said hurriedly. "Maybe it's not life or death. But it _is_ important. Johnny might lose his job, okay?" Emma and Lo's eyes got wide. "Yeah, I know. So me, Reef and Bro are going to find his bad staff evals in Bummer's office. So will you guys cover for me or what?" The girls exchanged a look, and then nodded unanimously.

"Now go save Johnny front-desk!" Lo said, and the girls pushed me out the front door of the restaurant and back into the lobby.

After running to the staff house to change out of my pirate suit, I returned to the lobby to find Reef and Broseph sitting in the couch, seemingly deep in conversation. I smiled, hoping they were coming up with a plan. I sat down next to Reef, and said, "So, what've we got so far?"

"Here's the way I see it," Reef said, sounding serious. "If we can find Johnny's evals, we can rip them up, and have enough time for a quick sesh. People are already covering for us, right?" He and Broseph knocked their knuckles together.

"Okay…" I said. "I meant what've we got in terms of finding Bummer's office?" The two teens exchanged a look.

"Oh…" said Reef. "In that case… nothing." I groaned. Reef held up his hands in defense. "Chill dude, we've got this. There's three of us, and only one office to find."

"I just hope it's not as hard to find as _The_ Office," Broseph noted, and I chuckled despite myself.

"Okay," I said. "We need a plan. Of all the people in this hotel, who d'you think knows where Bummer's office is?"

"Bummer!" Reef offered. I sighed again.

"Besides Bummer," I said. "Who's been here so long, and seen so many nooks and crannies of this place that they just _have_ to know where it is?" The three of us all thought hard, but couldn't come up with something. Then, suddenly, Broseph snapped his fingers.

"I got it, guy!" he said. "Ty! His family lives here, man!"

"Why not just ask Lo then?" I asked.

"No man, you don't get it," Broseph said. "I don't think Ty knows where it is."

"But you just said—"

"I think TY _knows _who _knows_ where it is," Broseph said. "Get it?" Reef and I both smiled, realizing Broseph had actually just come up with an excellent plan.

"So where's Ty?" asked Reef.

"My guess," I said. "The Office."

XxXxX

Once we had managed to get away from the hotel without Bummer noticing, we quickly made our way to the path leading to the Office. Passing the taco rock, shaka sign, and Bob the totem pole, we emerged at The Office. Just as I had suspected, there was Ty, along with No Pants Lance. Lance must've had this shift off or something. We quickly ran to the shore, and waved our arms frantically, trying to get their attention. Lance was the first one to notice us, and we distracted him so much that he slipped right off his board. When he came back up he was squirting water out of his mouth.

He paddled over, calling Ty to come with him. When they arrived, Lance looked less than thrilled to see us. "You groms just made me get worked," he said. "This better be good."

"Yeah," said Ty, nodding, though he didn't seem mad, just curious. "What're you guys doing here, anyway? Ditching work for a quick sesh?"

"Why does everyone think that?" I muttered to myself.

"Johnny might get canned!" Reef exclaimed. He explained the situation to Ty and Lance who, at the end, nodded in agreement

"So you'd figure I would know how to get to Bummer's office?" asked Ty. "Or at least know someone who knows where it is?"

"Yeah," said Broseph. "So… do you?" Ty thought for a moment.

"Like, I really shouldn't be helping you guys get into your boss's office," he said. "But Johnny's our bro, so I will. The only person who might know where it is would be Rosie. She's worked here since I was a little kid. Knows all the ins and outs. She's your best bet."

"Where can we find her?" I asked.

"Dunno," said Ty. "Isn't your friend Fin a maid? Try her." We realized that saving Johnny's job would require a lot of running around, and sighed. But we thanked Ty and Lance, and made our way back to the hotel.

XxXxX

We made our way into the elevator, Reef texting Fin to find her location. "Third floor bro," Reef said to me. I hit the button, and the elevator slowly began to move. It dinged, signifying we were at our destination. We took about two steps out of the elevator, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar stuck up hotel manager. With a gasp I grabbed Reef and Broseph by their shirts, pulled them back into the elevator, and jammed my finger into the close doors button over and over until they shut. We practically held our breaths as we heard Bummer, whistling, get into the elevator that was next to our own. We waited for it to depart to leave our own elevator.

"Dude," said Broseph, with a sigh of relief. "That was _way_ too close."

"Tell me about it," I said. "Let's find Fin quick." The others nodded, and we quickly began searching the halls for our blonde friend. We knocked on door after door, to either no response, or an angry one. Eventually, however, we heard Fin's voice on the other side.

"I've got this room, Rosie," she called, assuming we were Rosie coming to clean the room.

"Fin, it's us," Reef called. "I texted you." There was the sound of a vacuum being turned off, and Fin opened the door. The place was spotless.

"This place is totally clean," I noted. I looked around, and realized there weren't any bags in the room. "Fin… I don't think anyone's even staying here." With a sigh, Fin jumped backwards, landing on a perfectly folded bed.

"Okay, fine," she said. "Sometimes I go to vacant rooms to watch TV. So? You guys aren't working either."

"I explained in the text," Reef said. Fin pulled out her phone, and read aloud what Reef had texted her.

"Yeah, real good explanation," she said. "You texted me: 'Johnny mike loose his john. Need to fins Tosie. What's Tosie, anyway?" I looked to Reef, who shrugged.

"I can't text while I run," he said. "I meant to say that Johnny might lose his job, and we need to find Rosie."

"Johnny might get canned?" Fin asked, sounding interested, but not that concerned. "Why, what'd he do? Was it bad?" I shook my head, and quickly explained the situation.

"…and so we need to find Rosie," I finished. "Like, now!" Fin held up her hands to calm me.

"Okay, okay," she said. "Jeez, chill out Nate." She picked up the walkie-talkie all maids carried, and called Rosie. "Rosie, where are you?" The response came back, crackling with static.

"Upstairs, room 502, why?" she asked.

"Listen, uh…" Fin tried tentatively.

"Where's Bummer's office?" Reef asked impatiently.

"Who was that?" Rosie asked. "Was that the big haired boy?"

"Which one?" asked Fin.

"Red hair. Reef."

"Yep," Fin said. "Look, we don't have time to explain, but we really need to find it. And we figured—"

"I figured," interrupted Reef.

"Ty figured," I corrected.

"_Someone_ figured," said Fin, cutting us off. "That you would know where it is. So… help a maid out?" Rosie sighed on her end.

"Surfers," she muttered under her breath. I chose not to take offense to that. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but Bummer's office is on the seventh floor. Room 709."

"Thanks Rosie," Fin said. "We owe you one." She turned off the walkie-talkie, and we stood there for a moment. "Well… GO!" Fin said. The three of us shook our heads to snap out of it, and quickly ran off towards the elevators.

XxXxX

We tiptoed through the hallways on the way to Bummer's office, not daring to get caught. We neared the door to room 709, and slowly inched towards it. I tried the handle, which was locked, unsurprisingly. I sighed, and slumped against the door.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Dude, let me try something," said Broseph. He pulled a door key out of his pocket, and swiped it in the slot next to the handle. There was a beep, and the door opened. "Bellhops man. We get master keys!"

"Dude!" Reef and I exclaimed at the same time, slapping Broseph five. We then realized how loud we were being, and quickly quieted down. We inched into Bummer's room, and found ourselves in a small area, practically filled to the brim with staff evaluation sheets.

"Bummer needs a hobby," I noted.

"Okay," said Reef. "Time for operation 'Find Johnny's staff evaluation form before Bummer sees it so he doesn't lose his job 'cause he's our bro.'" I smirked.

"Next time, _I'm _picking the operation name," I whispered.

"Fine," said Reef. We inched forward, and got to the center of the office. It was really, _really_ cluttered with loose sheets of paper.

"How are these sorted?" I asked. "Alphabetically? By time?"

"Just start looking, dude!" Broseph said. Reef and I shrugged, and quickly began digging around. I spent a while searching through a pile of just Lance and Rippers, and found nothing.

"Whoa," I said, grabbing an eval from a nearby pile. "How'd I get a nine out of ten? I spilled soda on this guy's shoes." Broseph shrugged. Suddenly, Reef popped out of his own pile.

"Aha!" he said. He grabbed a pen off Bummer's desk, and quickly re-wrote something on the evaluation he found.

"Johnny's?" asked Broseph expectantly.

"Nah, it's mine," Reef said. He turned the sheet to show us. There was what clearly used to be a six, which Reef had changed to an eight. "Pretty lucky, huh?" I rolled my eyes.

"Focus, bro," I said. "We're here for Johnny, right?" Just then, Broseph hopped into the air, a smile on his face.

"Dude, found them!" he shouted, then quickly quieted down. "Look, here they are." He showed us three staff evals, all below four out of ten, as Johnny had said. I looked them over, wondering if we should change them, or just take them.

"Johnny's last name is St. James?" Reef asked. "Huh, I never knew that." I shrugged.

"Come on," I said. "We've got them, now let's go, before—" Just then, the door to Bummer's office swung wide open, and our boss stood in the door frame. His eyes landed on us, and I could've sworn I saw him get visibly red. Reef grabbed the evals from my hands, for what I don't know.

"Get out here!" Bummer shouted. "All three of you! Now!" We stood, hung our heads, and slowly shuffled out. I came out first, followed by Broseph. "You too, Reef." Bummer said, as Reef seemed to be stalling for something. Bummer was steamed. "What on earth did you think you were doing?!" he demanded. Broseph, Reef and I exchanged glances, and then I nodded. Reef slowly handed Bummer the sheets of paper. He scanned them.

"See, we just didn't want—" I tried.

"Save it," Bummer said, holding up a hand. "I see what's going on here… You three didn't want Johnny making you look bad." My eyebrows arched.

"Come again?" I asked. Bummer held out the sheets for us to see. What had previously been two threes and a one had become two eights and a ten. My eyes went wide. From behind me I felt a slight poking, and realized it was Reef. With a pen. He had changed the scores at the last minute. I could barely hold back my smile. "I mean, uh, yeah. We didn't want him showing us up."

"We're mad jealous, boss man," Broseph said, nodding. Bummer seemed to be mulling it over.

"Well," he said at last. "I admire the initiative for work. But, you _did_ break into my office, and had the intention of tampering with employee scores. _Strikes! _For all of you!" Broseph, Reef and I hung our heads.

"That's fair," I said with a sigh. "Come on dudes, let's get out of here." We walked away, heads still facing down, until we got to the elevator. Once the large metal door slid shut, however, I slapped Reef on the back. "Dude! Genius!"

"Yeah guy!" said Broseph. "I _never_ would've thought of that. How'd you do it so fast?"

"I used to practice magic when I was little," Reef said. "Yeah, I know, total dorks-ville. Don't tell anyone, deal?" Broseph and I both crossed our hearts solemnly.

"Grom's honor." We stated.

XxXxX

We reclined on the porch with the rest of the groms, telling the story of how we got the evals and saved Johnny's job.

"And then," said Broseph, who had been embellishing the story since the beginning. "Bummer's trained team of ninjas came down from the ceiling, but we fought them off! And we almost got away, dude!"

"Man, knock it off," I said. "We snuck in, we got the forms, and we almost got out undetected. Then Bummer showed up." I looked to Reef, and gestured to him with my thumb. "Then this dude had a serious brain blast, 'cause he made Bummer think we were trying to make Johnny's scores _worse_!" Reef smiled.

"What can I say?" he said. "I'm a genius."

"And Bummer was cool with this?" asked Emma.

"Nah," I said. "We all got a strike. But at least no one got fired." The others nodded, and Johnny put his fist up. I bumped it.

"I seriously can't say thanks enough, you guys," he said. "If you three hadn't helped, I might be packing my bags right now."

"Ahem," Fin said, clearing her throat. "I helped too. The wingman never gets any credit. Or the wing…woman…" I smiled.

"Thank you Fin," I said in a joking voice. She grinned.

"That's better."

"I mean it guys," Johnny said. "I owe you all one. If you need anything, just ask." The three of us exchanged some looks of mischief.

"Wax our boards for a week?" I asked. Johnny nodded.

"And wash our boardies?" tried Reef. Another nod.

"And bring us some grindage, eh bro?" Broseph asked.

"Done, done, and done," Johnny confirmed. Broseph, Reef and I smiled and nodded. I was sitting between them, and held out my hands, palms up. They each slapped me a high five simultaneously.

"Okay," said Lo at last. "So… do any of you guys think you can help get _me_ off work for a day or so?"


	9. Out of Commission

**Author's Note: So... I just kind of stopped writing this, huh? Well, that was my bad. The stoke to write just kind of comes and goes, you know? Well, anyway, I'm trying to continue this thing. I can't promise I'll never go on a hiatus again, but for now, we've got a few more chapters coming. So if anyone's still interested, here's chapter nine!**

Chapter Nine

Out of Commission

Dawn patrol was going great. Fin, Broseph, Emma and I were all at the beach, before any of the kooks or tourists showed up. You might be wondering why we were at the regular old beach, and not The Office. Too much of a good thing, dude (or dudette.) Anyway, Fin was keeping Emma busy, teaching her how to nose ride. Broseph and I were standing on the beach, looking out at the waves and the half-risen sun.

"Fin's actually a really good teacher," I said. "Maybe she should have gotten the surf instructor job." Broseph shook his head.

"Nah, bro," he said. "If Reef didn't get that job, he wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't have a new bro." I shrugged and nodded. Just then, Reef showed up. He looked terrible. "Dude, what's up? You look rough."

"Bummer had me hall sitting till two A.M. last night," Reef said with a groan. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "What'd I miss?"

"Emma's really getting the hang of nose riding," I said. Just then, the red head girl ran up, all excited.

"Did you see me?" she asked, her voice high pitched. "Fin taught me to cross-step. Isn't she the best?" Reef rolled his eyes. Just then Fin rolled onto shore, picked up her board, and walked over.

"Way to drag your butt out of bed," she said to Reef. "Tough day at the beach yesterday?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, it was," said Reef. "Teaching kooks and tourists how to surf is harder than it looks." It was Fin's turn to roll her eyes.

"Oh yeah," she said sarcastically. "Surf instructor is right up there with Alaskan crab fisherman on the tough jobs scale." I chuckled. "I could do your job in my sleep, wake up, and still kick your butt on the waves."

"You talk about my butt a lot," Reef said with a smile. "I think you like it." Broseph looked from Fin to Reef's butt, and then back to Fin.

"It's a good butt," he said with a shrug.

"Whatever!" Fin said. "I could not care less about your stinky butt."

"Bet you look at it," Reef said, picking up his board and heading for the waves. "Here I go! Excellent butt-watching opportunity." As he ran, Fin dared a slight glance. "Ha! Caught ya!" Reef exclaimed. Fin turned red, and Reef began paddling out. The sun was rising, and though there were no tourists surfing, a few were out on kayaks or catamarans. The sun was getting higher in the sky, and a wave was steadily building. Reef paddled for it, popped up, and began his ride. He got some speed going, and then executed a darn near perfect aerial. From the shore, Broseph, Emma and I cheered, while Fin rolled her eyes once more. Reef was on his way down, when the wave suddenly cut out. He was free falling… straight towards a tourist on a catamaran!

"Reef!" I shouted, reaching out, though I knew there was no way I could help. Reef crashed into the catamaran, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere. We all cringed.

"That's gonna leave a mark," said Broseph. Reef came up from under the water, grabbed his board, and started paddling for us. We ran to the shoreline, making sure he was alright.

"Reef!" called Emma. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured us, paddling to shore. "Did you see that air? Or were some of you too busy checking out my hind quarters?" Just then he stepped on land, and let loose a howl of pain. "OW! I'm hurt! I'm hurt!"

"What is it, dude?" I asked, concerned.

"My toe!" Reef moaned. "It's bent the wrong way. Don't look… it's hideous…" I looked. It was, in fact, bent up at an odd angle. I cringed, and Broseph got on his knee to examine it. He gripped it gently, and Reef howled again.

"That's definitely broken, yo," Broseph said.

"I'm crippled!" Reef called out. "Half a man! Bros, do you know what this means?" Broseph and I exchanged worried but confused looks, and shrugged. "I can no longer hang ten. I can only hang… nine!"

"Look dude," I said, getting my phone. "I'll call Kahuna, we'll get you on the Whale Bus, and someone will have that looked at." Reef nodded, put his foot down, and yelled in pain.

"I don't think I can walk on it," he said. Broseph and I exchanged another look, and grabbed Reef. I got under his arms, and Broseph carried his legs, putting them over his shoulders. We began walking towards the hotel, and I pulled out my phone.

"Hey, Kahuna?" I asked when he answered. "We're gonna need you to drive the Whale Bus somewhere…"

XxXxX

I knocked on the door of one of the rooms. "Room service!" I called. The door opened, revealing a hot girl. I wheeled the cart in, and raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Hey Betty. You eating this all alone?" Just then, a rather large man came into view from the balcony. He gave me the evil eye, and I quickly shoved the cart at the woman, shut the door, and ran to the elevator.

When I arrived at the lobby, I walked over to Johnny. "Yo, Johnny front-desk, what's up?" We high fived. "Pro tip; never hit on a guest without checking if they have a huge boyfriend first." He chuckled. "Reef back yet?"

"No," he said with a sigh. "I've been covering for him with Bummer all morning, but I think he's starting to catch on. The guests are starting to line up at the surf shack, and no one's there." Just then, Fin walked over.

"Hey guys," she said. "Did Reef get back from the ER yet?" Johnny and I both shook our heads. Broseph and I had gotten Reef to the Whale Bus, and Kahuna had brought him to the ER at Sunset Beach. He'd been gone ever since.

"Hey front desk guy!" Bummer called, walking up. He looked steamed. "There's a lineup of people at the shack who actually want to learn how to surf. Which would be great… if we had an instructor! Where's Reef?" Speak of the devil. In walks Reef—well, no actually. In "crutches" Reef, two crutches under his arm, and a cast on his leg. I sniggered a bit; it was so overkill. "Okay, tell me this is one of your little staff jokes." Bummer said.

"All this for a baby toe?" Fin asked, laughing heartily.

"The doctor said I should take it easy for at least a week," Reef said. "Which means… I get a week off! I have a note." He held up a signed slip of paper, and Bummer rolled his eyes.

"Great," he said. "This means I have to find another surf instructor."

"I'll do it!" Fin said, jumping at the chance to work the job she came here to do in the first place.

"Don't you already have a job here?" asked Bummer.

"Yes," said Fin. "But I'm bad at cleaning toilets, and I'm the east coast surfing champion." I put my hands on Fin's shoulders from behind, and shook her gently.

"She'll be perfect," I assured Bummer. "Just this morning she was teaching Emma to cross step." Bummer raised an eyebrow, unfamiliar with what that was. How this guy got to be the manager of a surfer themed hotel, I'll never know. "It's a surf thing." I said with a nod.

"Okay, you're up," he said to Fin. "You're on sick leave until your toe heals." He said to Reef. Both of them smiled and pumped their fists, throwing in a 'yes!' "Your first lesson starts in ten minutes. Don't make me regret this." And he walked away. Fin suddenly didn't look so excited.

"I'm gonna catch up on my Z's!" Reef said, limping out of the lobby. "Have fun working, Fin! Haha!" Fin still looked a bit freaked.

"You'll do fine," I assured her, resting an elbow on her shoulder. "This was the job you came here for, remember? Now go get 'em!" I pushed her forward slightly. She walked towards the change rooms.

"Thanks Nate," she called. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck!" Johnny and I called after her. I turned to Johnny. "So… how're things with you?" He shrugged.

"Can't complain," he said. "Office sesh after work?"

"Any time, bro," I said. "I'll get tell the others." I began to walk back to the DR (where I was technically supposed to be right now) when Johnny called after me.

"Make sure to tell Emma!" he said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah dude," I said, turning my neck to see him. "That was implied when I said "the others."" He nodded, turning slightly red. Everyone knew that Johnny had a mad crush on Emma. Well, everyone except Emma that is. Normally I was cool with this, but recently I started feeling… I don't know… Not jealous, because she's not with Johnny. Just, uh, confused I guess. Did I like her? Was I willing to mess up the friendship? No, I wasn't. Not yet, anyway. I pushed these thoughts from my mind as I walked back into the DR, and continued to work my shift.

XxXxX

This day had been worse than usual. Demanding guests, an extremely ticked off Kelly, and a second meeting with Boyfriend McBig-Arms from before. As the day wore on, and customers filed out, Lo, Emma and I were slowing down as well. Emma and I set a table together, then sat down with Lo, who was looking rather bummed.

"Hey," I said, trying to cheer everyone up. "Johnny and me are going to shred at The Office later. You Betties in or what?" They offered weak smiles and nodded. Just then we heard the sound of crutches, and the clunk of a cast on a hard wood floor. We looked to the entrance to find Reef limping in, a smiled on his face. He sat at the same table with us.

"So…?" he asked nonchalantly, as if it wasn't weird that he was hobbling around when he was supposed to be chilling at the staff lodge. "How's the ship treating you?"

"If this was a real ship, I'd have drowned myself by now," Lo offered, and walked away to set more tables.

"Dark," I mumbled, then turned my attention back to Reef. "Dude, what're you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be lying on the couch, watching reruns of Baywatch or something?" Reef waved a hand.

"Nah!" he said. "I figured the hotel would be in pretty bad shape without me around." Reef tried to prop his casted leg up on another chair, but bumped the table in the process, sending several glasses of water toppling over.

"Aw man!" I groaned. "Dude, I just put those there." He winced.

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "Don't worry, I'll clean it up." He grabbed the nearest napkin, which Emma had just folded delicately into the shape of a bird (hotel policy or something,) and proceeded to wipe up the spill.

"No, not my bird napkins!" Emma said with a sigh. "It took me half an hour to fold those." Reef looked positively bummed.

"Dude," I said slowly. "Look, the three of us'll hang after our shifts, 'kay?" I knew this meant giving up an Office sesh, since Reef couldn't surf, but it was worth it to help my bummed out bro. I knew Emma would be cool with it too. "But for now… I don't know, go chill at the staff house or something. Keep off that foot." Reef sighed.

"You're right," he said. "Heh, what am I even doing here. Working is so lame. I've got a week off!" He was trying to hide his boredom and how neglected he was feeling. Hiding it badly. I felt sorry for him, but there's nothing I could do about it. He started hobbling off. "See you guys later. I should go check on Fin anyway." When he was gone I exchanged a look of glumness with Emma, who returned it. Then we set about resetting the tables before the next wave of tourists showed up.

XxXxX

Broseph and I paddled in from a morning of surfing the next day. Johnny had an early shift, and the girls were so bushed we didn't feel like waking them. Reef was still in that cast, and was getting sick of walking the stairs, so yesterday Broseph and I had needed to set up a hammock for him on the porch.

Walking back towards the hotel and the staff house, I brought up our crippled friend. "I feel bad for Reef," I told Broseph. "No job, no waves, no beach Betties. Dude's got it rough." Broseph shrugged, his long yellow board under his arm.

"Dude, feel sorry for us," he said. "Bummer's gonna have us doing—" Just then he stopped. Stopped talking, walking… maybe even breathing. His eyes were fixed at a spot near the hotel. I looked to where his gaze was, and froze in the same position. The Whale Bus was letting off a huge group of… of…

"Tropical Tan swimsuit models," I said under my breath. "Duuuuude…" The Tropical Tan Girls had a reputation of being the hottest of all the swimsuit models for a sunscreen brand. And… yep, they were. Without saying a word, Broseph and I both ran over as fast as we could. We walked in front of the line of babes heading into the hotel.

"Uh…" Broseph tried, realizing we had come up with nothing to say. "Um… what's up model girls?" A few of them giggled.

"Staying at the hotel?" I asked. A few nodded. "Well, I'm Nate, and I'll be your waiter. This is Broseph." Broseph had lapsed into silence again, staring dumbly at the bikini clad hotties. "He's a bellhop."

"Yeah, cool," said the model in front, a blonde. Man, she even sounded hot! "Where's the surf instructor? We need lessons for a photo shoot we're doing at the end of the week."

"Uh…" I said, kind of at a loss for words at the hotness of these girls. "Yeah, he's… I mean, she's still waking up. We'll tell her… you guys need… yeah… Come on Broseph." The fluffy-haired teen snapped out of it, and the two of us turned back towards the staff house. As soon as we were out of the model's line of sight, we set out in a sprint for the porch.

When we arrived, everyone aside from Johnny was already outside. "Fin! Fin!" Broseph shouted. We arrived at the wooden steps, panting slightly. "A bus full of Tropical Tan models just pulled up!"

"And they need surf lessons!" I filled in. From his spot on the hammock, Reef's head popped straight up.

"Swim suit models?" he asked incredulously. "Swim suit models who need surf lessons?" He attempted to get out of the hammock, but fell on his face. "Wait, Fin, you'll need help with all those models!"

"I think I can handle it," said Fin, walking off.

"I have to see this," said Lo.

"I'm so there!" I said, and Broseph smiled wide. As the two of us began to leave the porch, we felt something grab our ankles. We looked back, confused, and found Reef, on his stomach, clutching our ankles.

"No!" he said, grabbing our legs tighter. "You don't understand. My entire life has led up to the day when I'm supposed to teach Tropical Tan models to surf! You have to help me!" I nodded, and Broseph grabbed Reef's outstretched hand, hoisting him up.

"We will help you, dude," Broseph said.

"Thank you, my brothers," Reef said seriously. "Thank you!" And we made our way to the beach.

XxXxX

Oh man. If you've never seen Tropical Tan girls applying sun tan lotion… you should check that out. Broseph, Reef, Johnny and I were standing, mouths agape, staring at these things of beauty. I realized Fin was here, talking to Reef, when I heard her say to us, "And you guys are…"

"Helping." Replied Johnny, Broseph and I simultaneously.

"Uh huh," Fin said, not sounding convinced. "None of this has anything to do with the swimsuit models, does it?" We all instinctually reacted, giving cries of "no way" and acting hurt that she would suggest such a thing. But we quickly gave this rouse up, and went back to staring, heads tilted, at the gorgeous girls. "Right… Excuse me, I have to go help the models put on sunscreen." Our eyes widened at just the thought of it. Fin walked away casually.

"She has the best job in the world!" said Johnny. Broseph and I nodded in agreement.

"She has my job!" Reef corrected. "And I'm getting it back! Come on!" Reef began hobbling towards a nice, open spot on the sand. "I will surf again!" We shrugged, and followed. I carried Reef's board along, and dropped it at the sand at his feet. Slowly, he stepped on, dropping the crutches.

"Okay bro, let's see what you've got," said Broseph, licking on an ice cream cone he'd gotten from the snack bar before we came. Reef attempted to stand, but quickly fell flat on his face.

"See now, this is just painful," Johnny said. "It's like watching a three legged dog try to fetch a Frisbee." Just then, the Tropical Tan girls strutted by, heading for the water. Johnny, Broseph and I automatically started flexing and posing.

"Why?" Reef shouted. "Why this week? How cruel can you get, world?"

"I gotta get to work man," Johnny said, starting to walk off. "I'm sorry bro."

"There will be other models," Broseph tried. I wasn't so sure that was true. Reef sighed. After a moment, I looked out at the water. The waves were great today. I felt bad leaving Reef, but those waves were tasty, and the girls… you get the picture. I stood.

"I'm going in," I said. "Look at those things!"

"The girls or the waves?" Broseph asked. "Ah, doesn't matter. I'm coming with you either way.

"You would abandon me for some hot girls and awesome waves?" Reef asked us. We exchanged a look.

"Wouldn't you?" asked Broseph.

"Yes…" Reef said with a sigh. I shrugged.

"Later, man," I said. Broseph and I headed out for the waves. We got in the water, paddled out, and I got on the first wave that came to me. It was nothing special, but I knew I was gonna show off for the models. I started with some nose riding, then quickly went for an aerial. I ended with a cutback that took my straight out of the wave. I rode the momentum over to Broseph.

"Dude, don't you have to work right now man?" He asked me. It was true, I was supposed to be in the DR right now. I'd already missed most of the shift already, and… come on. Tropical. Tan. Swimsuit models.

"I'm not missing this," I said. "Besides, we got our strikes erased after the whole Mr. Stevens thing with El Duderino, remember? So the way I see it, even if I get a strike, I still got two more chances."

"Can't argue with that," Broseph said. "Let's shred!" He went after a building wave, while I bobbed in place on my board. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a magenta board with a tan girl on it. I turned, and saw Emma paddling out, towards the models. I quickly paddled over, until we were side by side.

"Yo Emma," I said. "What's up?"

"Saving Reef's job," she said, and began paddling faster. I was confused, and stopped paddling to just bob in place.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I looked back to where Reef had been sitting, and found he was now up, cast off, hobbling towards the water. How he'd gotten it off, I was unsure. He got in the water, and started paddling out. I paddled near him. "Dude, what're you doing? You can't surf on that foot, you'll make it worse."

"I'm doing it… for the… models…" he said through gritted teeth. He started to try and stand, but on only one foot he quickly lost balance, and fell into the water. He came back up, spitting out water. He got back on his board as Fin paddled over. He looked downtrodden, as he addressed her. "I can't do it. I gave it my best shot, but you're the better man."

"That's true," Fin said.

"Not… not really," I interjected. "What with you being a chick and all."

"That's not the point," Fin said. "Right now, I have to help you get your job back. Bummer is this close to giving me your job permanently. So unless you wanna go home to the ice cream parlor, you've got to get up on a wave, right now!"

"But my toe—"

"Really, really hurts, I know," Fin interrupted. "But you have to suck it up and catch just one amazing ride in, okay?" Reef put on a look of determination.

"Okay," he agreed. "One sick, off the hook ride coming up!" He, Fin and I began paddling over to where the waves were building. We were joined by Broseph. Reef looked back to us for a moment, and we all gave him nods of encouragement. A wave started building, and he went for it. And, lo and behold, he managed a popup.

"Go for it bro!" Broseph shouted, and I hooted in encouragement. Reef got up further, and as the wave built higher and higher, he managed a sick 360.

"Not bad for a nine-toed doofus," Fin noted.

"He's a legend!" Broseph said. I nodded. Reef did a kick flip (the Zoltan Torkos version, not the real thing, but so far, that was impossible). (Mini author's note: If you don't get that, Google it.) He rode the wave all the way back to shore, where the Tropical Tan girls were standing, cheering him on.

"Lucky kook," I muttered to Broseph, who chuckled. The three of us paddled in after him, coming up on shore. A few of the models had their arms around Reef's chest.

"No love for the surf god's two best bros?" I asked. The models looked to Fin (for some reason) who nodded. Two models ran over, one wrapping her arms around Broseph, and one wrapping her arms around me.

"It's been a good morning, dude," Broseph said. Bummer, Emma and Johnny walked over, and the models quickly moved away. "Not cool." Said Broseph.

"I won't be needing the rest of my sick leave, sir," Reef informed Bummer. "I can start instructing hotties immediately."

"Oh, we won't be needing you anymore," Bummer said. "You're fired." Our eyes popped wide open.

"But I can surf again!" protested Reef.

"We have anew surf instructor," Bummer said, gesturing to Fin. All eyes fell on her. With a sigh, she shook her head.

"No you don't," she corrected. "I quit. Reef was right. Teaching kooks and tourists is pretty… bleak. I'll just go back to housekeeping." Wow. That was really big of her. She had wanted this job all along, and now that she'd gotten it, she was willing to give it up for a friend. Girl had some balls… metaphorically speaking.

"Suit yourself," said Bummer. "Oh… wait… You're position's already been filled. Oh well, have a safe trip home." Bummer began walking away. Our eyes still wide, we began following Bummer, listening to Fin protest. We got to the pool, where Bummer turned around to explain something. Just then, Fin shoved him into the pool, and a humungous bag of garbage crashed right where he had just been standing. He resurfaced, sputtering for air.

"Whoa," I said. "Mr. Baumer, she just, like, saved your life man. Which means… you owe her…" Bummer sighed.

"Alright…" he said at last. "She can have her job back."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Emma. Broseph and I clapped Fin on the back. Bummer got out of the water to dry off, and stormed away. After the initial cheering, the excitement waned, and we eventually stood in silence.

"Uh…" I tried. "Celebratory Office sesh?" The others exchanged a look, and with a collective nod, we all exclaimed.

"To The Office!" And we ran off to surf away the rest of the day.


	10. Vintage Surf Tour

_Author's Note: Hey, look, a new chapter! Please enjoy!_

Chapter Ten

Vintage Surf Tour

Dude Dawn Patrol. Just the dudes, sans Johnny front-desk. Reef, Broseph, Lance, Ripper and I, shredding up The Office as the sun began to rise. Surfer after surfer, we all took our spots in the lineup, and rode in each wave as they approached. There was, without a doubt, no better way to spend a morning than on the waves.

At some point, Reef, Broseph and I were paddling slowly. "We'd better get back before we're late," Reef said. "Again."

"One more wave, bro!" Broseph said.

"One more sick ride it is!" I declared. We decided that, instead of each having one more ride, we'd have the same one. We managed to get all five of us on Ripper's board, and as the wave reached its peak, we leapt into the air off the board, howling like wild men. It was a good morning.

XxXxX

As we walked back, we found the girls and Johnny already outside. Without missing a beat, Fin and Reef began bickering about something or other. I didn't really care, until Broseph said, "That the new Stoked! Magazine?"

"Yes!" Exclaimed Fin, happily. "Elaine Beachly scored the cover! Girls almost never score the cover!"

"That's because they suck, compared to guys," Reef said. I sighed as the girls all gasped.

"Oh dude," I said. "Why man, why?" The girls slowly began walking towards the hotel, and the three of us watched Johnny chase after like a sad puppy.

"For the record," he said. "I think girls are better at… just about everything!"

"Aww, that's sweet," Emma said. "That's why you'll have a girlfriend." She gasped. "You should ask Samantha from the golf course out!" Johnny stopped walking, feeling defeated. Reef and I chuckled, as the girls walked further away.

"So deep in the friend zone, bro," he said to Johnny, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I mean, Samantha is pretty hot…" I tried. He just sighed, and we continued walking.

XxXxX

As I was returning from the beach (did you know that room service delivers to the beach?) I saw two familiar faces moving in my direction. Fin and Reef, both in their surf gear and with their boards, were heading down the path to the beach.

"What're you guys up to?" I asked them. "Did Bummer let you both off early or something?" Fin quickly pressed a hand to my lips to keep me quiet.

"Shut it, Nate!" she hissed. I nodded, and she let go of my face. "We're ditching, and going to settle once and for all who the better surfer is, guys or girls."

"You want in on this, man?" asked Reef. Oh man, I really did. Not even to surf, just to watch the competitive antics of my two friends. But I sadly shook my head.

"Can't dude," I said. "Kelly's got me on a leash today—with a choke collar!" Reef laughed.

"Sucks to suck, dude," he said. "Come on Betty, let's hit the waves!" He gently nudged Fin, and ran off towards the waves.

"You are such a kook!" Fin exclaimed, running after them. I sighed, wishing I could join as well. Instead I just wheeled the small serving cart back into the DR. I returned it to its designated spot, and walked to the kitchen. Emma was rinsing off a plate.

"Hey," she said. "You look bummed. Kelly making you stay late again?"

"Fin and Reef are ditching work together," I corrected. "Surf competition between the two. Sort of a "Battle of the Sexes." Probably 'cause of what Reef said this morning, you know?"

"That wasn't cool of him," she said. "Girls can so be better surfers than guys! You don't think guys are better surfers, right Nate?"

"Well, definitely not all guys," I said. "Yeah, the top surfers are guys right now, but I know tons of ladies who could out surf tons of guys. Fin can, Lo can… heck, _you_ can surf better than some of my buddies back home." She blushed slightly.

"I had a good teacher," she said honestly. I smiled slightly.

"Thanks," I said.

"Oh, I was talking about Broseph…" she said. I opened my mouth slightly, but then just hung my head. Well, that kind of hurt. But then she started giggling, and gently punched my arm. "I'm kidding, dude. You were a great teacher."

"Thanks… for real," I said. "Hey, if you ever want me to show you a few moves or anything, you know where to find me."

"Hey, yeah," she said, smiling brightly. "You want to go out after our shifts?" I grinned.

"It's a date!" I said happily. She smiled again, and walked off to take someone's order. Just then, Lo walked in past her, and over to me, smiling like a lunatic. "What's go you so happy?"

"Daddy just gave me a chance to help him out!" she squealed. "If I can think of a good way to get more guests by noon, there's no way he won't let me back in the penthouse!"

"Nice!" I said, exchanging a high five with her. "So, what've you got idea wise?" Her smile slowly began fading away, until she looked at me, wide eyed.

"Oh no," she said. "What am I supposed to do?" I held up my hands to calm her.

"Hey, hey, it's all good," I said. "Find something… surf related. This is the Surfer's Paradise hotel, after all."

"Surf related," Lo repeated. "Got it. Thanks Nate, I owe you one."

"Yeah yeah," I said, with a shrug. "Just remember to invite me to your next off the hook penthouse party, yeah?" She nodded, and hurried off.

XxXxX

Emma and I got off our shifts around 12:30, and immediately headed for The Office. I had asked Lo if she wanted to come, but she said she was way too busy. Something about vintage something or other. I don't know, probably a purse or something. Sometimes I just don't get chicks.

Anyway, Emma and I were alone, out in the water. "Okay, for a cutback, you need to build up a lot of speed," I began explaining. She had told me that Fin was teaching her how to do an aerial, so I figured I would cover cutbacks. "Once you're going fast enough, move to the top of the wave, and then quick turn your hips."

"Right towards the barrel?" she asked.

"Right towards the barrel," I confirmed with a nod. "Then, after a second or two, twist yourself again, back in the direction you were going. Or, if you don't think you can go all the way, just ride the first cut all the way off the wave." She nodded.

"Okay, I'm going for it!" she exclaimed, and began paddling.

"Vaya con dios!" I shouted after her. A line from Break Point, which has pretty much become mainstream with surfers since the nineties. It's Spanish for "Go with god," Keanu Kole's last words of the movie.

I watched Emma pop up, and begin riding the wave. So far so good. She picked up speed, just as I had instructed. Then she swiveled her hips, and went towards the barrel. She should cut out in two seconds. She should cut out in one second. She should've cut out by now. And… barreled. "Oh!" I said, with a wince, as I watched her board fly into the air, without her on it. I paddled over to where the wave had crashed, and stopped next to her as she came up, sputtering.

"How was… that…?" she asked, between gasps for air. I smiled.

"Not bad," I said. "Could use a little bit of work, though. Your board's over there, by the way." I pointed to where it was, a good twenty or thirty feet away.

"Give a girl a lift?" she asked, with a sweet smile. I shrugged, and pulled her up on my board. As I sat in front, paddling, she pulled her legs up onto the board along with her body. Just then, she tapped my back. "Is that… Broseph? There, on the beach." I looked to where she pointed, and saw that it was, in fact, Broseph. He was waving his arms, clearly trying to get my attention.

"Yeah, it is," I said. "Let's see what he wants. After we get your board, of course." Once Emma had reclaimed her magenta board, we paddled towards Broseph. "What's up, bro?" I asked him.

"A huge truck just pulled up to the hotel," Broseph explained. "Lo told me to come find you two. Come on!" I exchanged a look with Emma, shrugged, and followed Broseph. We quickly made our way to the hotel, stopping only to drop our boards off at the staff lodge. Once we were there, we found Broseph was correct: there was a huge truck pulled up. Lo was talking to some tan dude standing near the truck. The tan dude opened the doors to the truck, and Emma gasped. We ran up, ignoring Lo, to get a better view.

"They're…" I said, at a loss for words.

"Beautiful…" finished Broseph. We were staring at a truck load of the oldest, most famous boards in history. I recognized almost every one of them. Kelly Slater, Eddie Haiku, and more. The tan dude smiled.

"Ah, the mark of true surfers," he said. "Hey guys, I'm Kai." We managed to wave, but only barely, because we were so awestruck.

"So… who unloads all the boards?" Lo asked Kai.

"Usually just me and the social coordinator at the hotel," Kai said. "Guess that'd be you." I could already tell Lo had other things in mind.

"Hey guys," she said, turning to face the three of us. "How'd you like to unload the boards while I show Kai around?" Our eyes grew wide, and our mouths broke into grins.

"For real?" asked Emma incredulously. "We get to touch them?"

"I don't see why not," Kai said with a shrug. "Just be sure you're really careful with them. They're irreplaceable." Emma, Broseph and I nodded our heads vigorously.

"Great!" Lo said, taking Kai by the arm and walking away. "Come on Kai, I'll show you the beach." We quickly ran inside, and began ogling all the boards.

"No way…" Emma said. "Mark Hoe, Sinowa Beache, Eddie Haiku…"

"No way, there's a Jessie Oki board, he's my idol!" Broseph exclaimed.

"Whoa…" I said, at a loss for words at what I was seeing. Before me stood an impossibly tall, wooden board, with intricate tiki carvings. "The Duke Hamilton vintage balsa wood board!"

"This was ridden into the biggest wave paddled into in… history!" Broseph exclaimed. We just stared for a moment, and then Broseph and I both fell to our knees, bowing to this beacon of surfing goodness. "We are not worthy!"

XxXxX

About thirty minutes later, we had gotten almost all the boards set up in the lobby. Broseph and I had done most of the heavy lifting, but Emma had pitched in a bit. The two of us were slowly pushing the Duke board into the center of the lobby.

"Man, this took longer than I thought," Broseph grunted, straining to move the heavy glass case.

"Well," I said, through gritted teeth. "It would've gone a lot faster if someone," I looked to Emma. "Hadn't pretended to ride the Eddie Haiku board, in the middle of the van!" Emma shrugged apologetically. We got the case in position, and stepped back to admire our handy work. The Kahuna, who had showed up some time ago, walked over and put an arm around each of our shoulders.

"Looks good, compadres," he said. "If this hotel thing doesn't work out, maybe you can be, like, interior decorators or something." I snorted.

"Nah, I'm good," I said. "What about you Bro?" I turned to Broseph, but he didn't respond. He was staring at the Duke board, a confused look on his face.

"You say something, bro?" he asked. Not to me though. He asked the board. After a pause, he continued talking to it by saying, "You're in a glass box." MY eyebrows furrowed in serious confusion. I waved my hand in front of the tan teen's face.

"Earth to Broseph!" I called. "You in there, man?" He shook his head, as if coming out of a sleep. Kahuna put a hand on his shoulder.

"That board speak to you, man?" he asked.

"Whoa," said Broseph, eyes wide. "That was heavy!" I slowly started inching away, before things got even weirder. I moved over to the front desk, where Johnny was admiring the boards. Emma ran over to us.

"Have you guys seen Reef and Fin?" she asked. "They are going to freak when they see these!" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"They're not back yet?" I asked. I checked the time on my phone. "They ditched work earlier, but that was, like three hours ago. I figured they'd have shown back up by now. What could be keeping them?" Emma gasped suddenly.

"They're totally hooking up!" she nearly shouted, with a squeal. "I have to tell Lo!" and she ran off to do just that. I shrugged, and turned back to Johnny.

"So…" I said, trying to make idle chit chat. "How's your shift going?" He shrugged.

"Can't complain," he said. "Bummer has me posted here for a little longer, since so many reservations are coming in with the board tour here and all."

"How many do we have?" I asked.

"We're booked solid for the rest of the week!" Johnny said.

"Lo's so back in the penthouse," I said, and he nodded in agreement. "Think she'll throw any more parties? And invite her favorite summer staff?"

"I don't know, but I hope so," Johnny admitted. "I've never been on the fun end of a hotel party, just the end that has to clean up afterwards." Just then, Emma, Kai, and the heiress we were just discussing walked into the lobby.

"I want all the details!" Lo exclaimed, probably talking about Fin and Reef. I interjected, with a finger in the air.

"We don't know for sure that they're hooking up," I reminded them. "They left on a surfing competition, remember?"

"But now they're probably smooching somewhere exotic!" Emma exclaimed.

"Oh, I love summer romance!" Lo said with a squeal. Kai, Johnny and I exchanged a look that unanimously said "chicks, huh?" Just then, the very large and imposing Mr. Ridgemount walked towards us, with a woman who I assumed was his wife by his side.

"The display looks great honey!" he exclaimed. I wanted to say that it was Broseph and I that had set everything up, but decided against it after seeing the man's size. Six foot five easy. "I've got to hand it to you Lo, you pulled it off. I'm proud of you." He walked off, a smile on his face.

"This calls for a celebration!" Lo said, after her dad had left. "Who wants to go to the spa?"

"I could go for a massage," Kai agreed. The two started walking off.

"Watch the show for me for an hour?" Lo asked Emma. "You're the best, thanks." Without giving Emma the chance to respond, the two walked away. Emma looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't get the chance. She sighed, and I put an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, surfer girl," I reassured her. "I'll help you watch the show. And…" I looked to Broseph, who was still staring at the Duke board, drooling slightly. "And so will Broseph." She smiled.

"Thanks, Nate," she said. "You're a good guy." I shrugged, and Emma walked off to do something or other. I noticed that Johnny didn't look too pleased with how chummy I was getting with Emma, but he didn't say anything about it. I shrugged it off, and walked over to Broseph so I could watch the boards for the next hour or so.

XxXxX

About 45 minutes in, my stomach started growling. I tried to calm it down, but I was mad hungry, and my stomach wasn't having any of it. "Chill, belly," I assured it. "I'll fill you in a second." I walked over to Broseph, still ogling the boards. I was a little worried about the dude, to be honest. "Yo Bro, I'm gonna run to the staff house and get some grindage. Want anything?" He wiped his face, as if just waking up, then turned to face me.

"Uh, yeah guy," he said. "Got the second half of a hoagie in the fridge." I raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't you have the first half, like, a week ago?" I asked, sure the sandwich would've gone bad by now.

"So?" he asked.

"Your funeral," I said with a shrug. I started walking to the staff house, but decided to take the back exit. Even though I'd need to walk through the hotel, it would end up being a shorter walk than the other way around.

About half way through the trip, I spotted something that made me stop walking. A golf cart, left unattended. I weighed the options in my head. Well, I thought. No one's using it. And I'm feeling pretty lazy right now. "Golf cart it is!" I said aloud. I sat on the cushioned seat, and turned the key, which had been left in the ignition by the previous user. As the cart roared to life, I stepped on the gas. Even though I could probably jog to the staff house faster than this, if I needed to get somewhere really fast, I could kick it into high gear.

I was just slowly riding along, when I heard hurried footsteps behind me. I slowed the cart down, and turned back, only to see Emma racing up after me, a pained expression on her face. She caught up to me, and jumped aboard the cart.

"Go to the staff house!" she practically screamed.

"Why?" I asked, confused. "What's going—"

"I have to pee so badly!" she said. "Lobby bathroom's closed. Now drive Nate! I'm gonna burst!"

"Okay, okay," I said. I jammed my foot on the gas pedal, and the cart began zipping forward. "If you pee in this cart, I'm not helping you clean it up. Have fun explaining it to Bummer." She just winced, hands in her groin, as she tried to control her bladder. Jeez! I thought. The golf cart quickly tore along the path leading to the staff house. We stopped outside the porch, and Emma leapt off the cart. She ran inside, bounding the stairs two at a time as I went to get some food. The sigh of relief from the bathroom upstairs could be heard from the ground floor, followed by a flush. I chuckled as I grabbed a bag of chips for myself, and Broseph's hoagie (which smelled awful, by the way.)

"That's better," Emma said, with another sigh, as she walked into the kitchen. "Thanks for the lift." I chuckled. "So, what were you doing on that cart anyway?" I held up the food in my hands.

"I was hungry and lazy," I said. She made a quizzical look at the hoagie. "It's Broseph's. You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," she said. "Now come on, we should get that cart back before Bummer notices it's missing." I nodded, and we walked back outside to get the cart back to the hotel.

XxXxX

Once the cart was parked where I'd found it, the two of us walked back into the lobby. I munched on some chips, offering Emma a few, which she accepted. We walked past most of the boards, when suddenly we stopped in our tracks, simultaneously realizing something was wrong. Emma gasped as we both turned around, and exclaimed at the same time, "The Duke board is gone!" The wooden board was no longer in its glass case. Johnny walked over, confused.

"The what board?" he asked.

"The fourteen foot wood one!" Emma exclaimed. "It's the most valuable board in the whole show!"

"This is bad…" Johnny said. "Really bad." We nodded. Just then, as if to make things worse, Mr. Ridgemount walked over. The expression on his face almost made me scream in fear.

"WHERE. IS. THIS. BOARD?" He asked, gesturing to the empty glass case. Emma, Johnny and I all began to stammer and stutter, but we were soon relieved of our discomfort. "I'm going to have a word with Lauren about this. You all stay put!" And he walked away. We all breathed sighs of relief.

It seemed only moments passed before Lo and Kai ran back to the lobby. "Oh no!" yelled Kai, running up to the empty case. "No, no, NO!" he banged his head on the case. "Oh, my dad is going to kill me!"

"It was here when I left," tried Lo. "I left Emma in charge."

"This was your job," Emma said. "I only left Broseph in charge because I had to pee so badly." I held up a hand.

"Hold up a sec," I said. "You left Broseph in charge of the boards?" She nodded. "Broseph? With priceless, legendary boards."

"Okay, I see how bad that sounds now…" Emma said. "But I really had to go!"

"Well, I think I know where the board is," Johnny said. I exchanged a look with him, and we both nodded. There was only one thing Broseph would do with the Duke Hamilton surfboard. Surf.

XxXxX

We hightailed it to the beach, knowing Broseph would be there. I had considered that maybe he had taken it to the Office, but the walk was too far. He'd want to get on the water as soon as possible. And when we arrived, I realized Johnny and I had been right. There was Broseph, still visible even with the setting sun, carving it up on the giant wooden board. We all began shouting, trying to call him back in. Well, all except Kahuna.

"Yeah!" he yelled, pumping his fists in the air. "Shoot the curl, dude! Cowabunga!" I almost told him to knock it off… but then I saw Broseph again. He was carving it up out there! The waves seemed to be tailor made for this board, seriously. He landed a 360, and just when he started nose riding… BAM! Huge wave came down, and brought Bro down with it. The girls gasped, and we stood there, holding our breaths. Then, Broseph's head popped up out of the water, and he gave us a thumbs up.

"He's alright!" I cheered.

"But where's the board?" asked Emma. Just then, the fourteen foot Duke board shot up from under water. It flew into the air, and we all cheered. It looked like Broseph got his ride in, and no one got hurt. …Until a shark leapt out of the water, biting the board, and causing it to split apart. Our eyes went wide.

"That's it," said Kai. "I'm dead."

"I'm dead-er," said Lo.

"I'm seriously reconsidering surfing this spot in the future," said Johnny, still staring at where the shark had been.

Broseph began swimming to shore, and Kai picked up a small piece of the board that had floated our way. "I might as well admit it," said Lo. "I'm going to spend the rest of my summer as hired help."

"Hey, maybe not," I said. "Maybe we can put it back together, or…" I looked at the small wooden shard in Kai's hands. It was splintered all over, no hope of repair. "Uh… actually, never mind."

"Was the ride worth it?" I asked Broseph, as he took his place beside us. "If the board's toast, it must've been, right?"

"I charged a ten footer on the same board one of the greatest surf legends ever rode!" Broseph said. His eyes were wide, and filled with wonder and amazement. "Today… was the best day of my life…" I gave him a pat on the back, as he adopted an expression of contentment.

"Wow," said Lo. "That almost makes it worth it." Emma nodded in agreement, but Kai didn't seem to think so. I shrugged.

"Come on," I said, beginning to walk down the beach. "Let's try and find all the pieces before the sun sets all the way." The others nodded, and we began our search.

XxXxX

Emma, Broseph and I collapsed on the couch on the porch. The rest of the night had been spent searching for the remaining pieces of the destroyed Duke board, and had ended with us finding Reef and Fin in a…compromising position. They had stammered something about being lost at sea, except they were only ten minutes from the hotel. All I know is, I'm glad I didn't go with them for the competition this morning.

Emma, sighing, said, "That was the longest two hours of my life!" I nodded, and elbowed Broseph in the gut. He grunted, but didn't retaliate; he deserved it, for making us look up and down the beach for so long. Just then, Lo walked out on the porch. She sighed heavily, and slumped in a chair.

"How'd your dad take the news that the Duke board was totaled?" I asked her.

"How d'you think?" she said glumly. "I'm on 'probation,' whatever that means," she said. "No way I'm getting out of this grungy staff house now!"

"Hey, it's not that bad," tried Emma. "You've got us, right?" Broseph and I smiled cheekily, giving Lo thumbs ups. The rich girl sighed again, but smiled after a minute.

"I guess," she said. "Maybe this summer won't be all bad. Thanks you guys." Then she stood, and moved to the door. "I'm going to sleep."

I nodded. "Yeah, about time I hit the hay too," I said. I got up, walked up the rickety stairs, and collapsed on my bed, the day's events all floating out of my mind as dreams flooded in.


End file.
